Westhill girls volleyball team breaks through for B state crown: ‘Nothing about the season was easy’

Glens Falls, N.Y. — “Third time’s a charm!”

That’s what one Westhill girls volleyball player shouted after the Wolf Pack’s 3-0 sweep over Section V’s Charles G. Finney in the Class B state final on Saturday at Harding Mazzotti Arena in Glens Falls.

After two years of heartbreak on this same stage, Westhill returned with a younger, hungrier roster and left with the program’s third state title.

The 2023 and 2024 seasons resulted in losses in the state title game, but Saturday was different for so many reasons.

The Wolf Pack won, but what made this victory truly different was who they did it with.

This year’s Westhill team was the youngest. The Wolf Pack rostered just one senior this season.

That youth movement made some count Westhill out along the way, but that made it all the more rewarding in the end.

“I am so proud of these girls because, like I said, no one expected this team to be the team to win the championship,” Westhill coach Karla Prince said. “And knowing that every single opponent thought that this was the Westhill team that they could beat and it turned out that the youngest team that Westhill had ever had, the team that had the ability to compete every single night. And in the end, they had so much grit and competitiveness and fire inside of them.”

Westhill’s championship opportunity almost didn’t happen.

The Wolf Pack began pool play on Friday with a 2-1 loss to the same Charles G. Finney team it faced on Saturday.

After that loss, Westhill faced elimination in its second pool play match, down 1-0 and one set away from elimination. From that point on, the Wolf Pack did not lose another set all weekend.

While going into the championship undefeated is viewed as an advantage, Prince believes the way her team got there this season helped them win it all when it mattered.

“In my experience, it’s (the undefeated) teams that end up not winning the championship because you almost go in with the same game plan because it worked,” Prince said. “And when you go in with a (loss), you have to make those adjustments. And we made adjustments going in today. And it does make me wonder if Charles Finney wasn’t prepared to make adjustments and wasn’t expecting us to have made adjustments. My lineup today had the same girls on the floor, but it was not the same lineup in rotations that they faced yesterday.”

The adjustments paid off immediately for Westhill.

The Falcons may have defeated the Wolf Pack on Friday, but they looked overmatched early on Saturday.

Westhill took firm control of the first set, leading by as many as 16 before going on to win 25-10 to set the tone in the championship round.

“Because we came out so hot in the beginning, it just set our opponent on their heels,” Prince said.

With their championship experience, the players understood it was vital to get out to a fast start.

“Super important, because that momentum really helped us get through all three sets,” Westhill junior Sophia Johnson said. “And we just stayed consistent and played our game and got it done.”

The Wolf Pack kept rolling in the second set, storming out to another big lead.

But this time, the Falcons weathered the storm. Charles G. Finney fought back to tie and take the lead twice in the set, but Westhill proved to be too much.

The Wolf Pack turned it on when it needed to win 25-21.

“I was saying, just one point. All we need is one,” Johnson said. “Sometimes we overlook, and we’re like, let’s win the set. We have to win the match. I think it’s really important, like I said last time, is to go point by point and just stay grounded and be grateful in the position that you’re in.”

Facing a daunting two-set deficit, the Falcons would not go away quietly in the third set.

Charles G. Finney led late, 21-20, but Westhill remained poised.

“The further you get into the match, if you’re 0-2, you’re just scared to lose at that point,” Prince said. “So even though we were down in set three, my girls weren’t afraid to lose because Charles Finney had everything to lose.”

The Wolf Pack outscored the Falcons 5-2 down the stretch to win the set 25-23, erasing the nightmares of championships past and replacing them with a celebration.

“It shows that we have so much grit,” freshman Brynna Sisack said. “It shows that we’ve really worked for this our whole season and for so long. We just worked so much and I think we really deserve it.”

When the final point dropped, the Wolf Pack bench erupted with players and coaches sprinting to celebrate in the middle of the court.

The celebration was a culmination of a challenging journey that began with the first practices in August and ended with tears of joy on the second-to-last Saturday in November.

“They were challenging for me as a coach, but they made me grow every single week,” Prince said. “And I made them grow as the season went on, too. And together we grew as a team closer and closer as a unit. And that’s why it worked.”

Getting it done with this group of girls after coming so close the past few years felt even more special to the members of this year’s team.

“It’s with all my friends I’ve been playing with for so long,” Johnson said. “And we were a little nervous, but I think it helped us just to know the gravity of the game and know how important it is and we all just worked together and got it done.”

Westhill finishes the season 20-4 and is the state champion for the third time in program history.

“It’s an unbelievable feeling. A little bit of relief mixed in with unbelievable joy,” Prince said. “Because this season, from start to finish, was incredibly difficult. Every opponent along the way made this season so hard for us. And I think that’s why we came out with a win today, because nothing about the season was easy.”

“It’s so satisfying,” Johnson said while clutching her medal. “Even seeing the gold on the medal, it’s just amazing.”