Again, Lake Placid fell to its postseason nemesis, the Chateaugay Bulldogs. The two teams have collided three times in the past four years in the postseason and the Bulldogs have come out on top each time to advance deeper into the state Class D playoff  tournament. This time, Chateaugay triumphed by a 3-1 score.

Lake Placid was overwhelmed early as it dropped the first game 25-5, but gave the Bulldogs all they could handle the rest of the way. Lake Placid won the second game 25-23 and then fell 25-14 and 25-21 to finish its season with a 5-14 mark.

Chateaugay, the Section X champion, improved to 18-3 overall and will now face Section II winner Argyle on Saturday at Gloversville High School.

With just two returning seniors, Lake Placid was able to claim its fourth-consecutive Section VII, Class D title but came up short again against a traditionally strong Chateaugay program that is no stranger to reaching the state final four.

Lake Placid’s Graci Daby (2) and Kaleigh McKillip (11) head for the ball after it was kept alive on a dig by a diving Laurel Miller during Wednesday’s match against Chateaugay. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

“After we got through the first game, which wasn’t good obviously, I think we played even with them except for our serving,” Lake Placid coach Donna Moody said.  “In game four, even in game three, I think if we served better, we would have had a different outcome. They played their hearts out, I’m proud of all the girls on this team, and we’ll keep working hard to get back here again next year and see what we can do.

“From the beginning of the season to the end, we’re a different team. We’ve been playing so much better,” Moody added. “This is a testament to their hard work, to their attitude and to their wanting to get better.”

The Blue Bombers never got close in the first game as the Bulldogs got off to a 3-0 edge and quickly pushed the advantage to double digits. Lake Placid also faced a 4-0 deficit at the beginning of game two but then evened the score at 7-7, with the game going back and forth the rest of the way. The game was deadlocked multiple times, with the Blue Bombers staying on top for good after breaking a 22-22 tie.

The Bulldogs surged out to a 7-2 edge and never trailing in the third game, and then broke away from a 5-5 tie in the fourth with a 9-2 run. The Blue Bombers made things close late in the fourth by cutting their deficit to 21-19, but couldn’t hold on in the end.

“Our first game is what our coaches like to call ‘our warm-up game,'” Lake Placid junior Laurel Miller said. “We we’re a still a little cold, a little shaky, but after that we just kind of work up and were able get together and pull off the second game. Unfortunately in the next two, we just fell slightly short but next year, we planning on practicing even harder and coming back for the win.”

“We came out and played well, and sometimes that’s good when you team is sharp, but then we got a little flat in the second game and didn’t expect what we got,” Chateaugay coach Chris Reynolds said. “Lake Placid, they’re scrappy, they jumped on us, they got game two and they earned it. We got just enough offense to where we could play downhill and keep them on their heels. We certainly did not serve particularly well. If we plan on doing well on Saturday we’ll have to do better than that, and serve-receive better than we did.”

Victoria O’Leary and Aimee Hebert were seniors playing the final matches of their volleyball career at Saranac Lake. O’Leary had a big afternoon at the net and finished with 13 kills and led the Blue Bombers in points with seven. Graci Daby had a team-high 11 assists for Lake Placid, and Miller chipped in 10 assists in the setback.

Four Bulldogs served in double digits. Emily Ashlaw led the way with 17 points, Valerie Titus added 15 points, and Morgan Lamica and Grace Harrigan contributed 12 and 11 points, respectively. Savannah Fiorino paced Chateaugay at the net with a match-high 12 kills.