The two teams split during the regular season, each winning road contests. But on Thursday, the Blue Bombers got off to a hot start, taking the opening set 25-15; however, the Patriots responded, winning the next two by scores of 25-10 and 25-14.

In the fourth set, Lake Placid fell into a hole early, forcing head coach Makenzie Patinella to call a timeout, but from that moment on, the Blue Bombers completely shifted momentum, rolling to a 25-17 victory in the fourth set, before sealing their title with a 15-7 score in the fifth game.

“I pretty much told them that their time to shine was now or never,” Patinella said, “and that this was not going to be our last game and we’re that team that played well in that first set. That happened to pull them out of the funk they were in.”

The win marked the Blue Bombers’ seventh sectional title in 12 seasons. However, this was the first time they’d won it in Class C and the first under Patinella, who took over the head coach reins from Sandy Huber this season. Patinella was at a loss for words for how proud she was of her team.

Lake Placid’s Ireland Cassidy plays the ball during Thursday’s Section VII, Class C Championship game against AuSable Valley at Saranac Central School. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“I’m feeling a lot of different emotions, especially being my first year as a varsity coach,” she said, while adding that her squad came together and played as one team.

“I threw in a lot of different people tonight, and they all did their job out on the court and I’m proud of every single one of them,” she said. “Whether they get in or not, because they were in the game and they were cheering on the sideline, being a huge asset to the team’s spirit.

“Overall, I’m very happy with how we finished,” Patinella added. “I’ve got to give a lot of props to Ireland Cassidy, Fiona Sullivan and Brooke Meyer. They helped pull it together, made all the pieces fall into place.”

Cassidy led the way with 10 digs, while also recording five service points, four aces, three kills, one assist and one block. Cassidy was also named Player of the Game, but was more proud of how her team played on Thursday.

“We worked so hard for this, and I’m so happy we pulled through with this,” she said.

Lake Placid’s Elyse Hathaway plays the ball during Thursday’s Section VII, Class C Championship game against AuSable Valley at Saranac Central School. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

Meyer finished with six aces, six kills, five digs and three points for Lake Placid, while Sullivan added seven kills, seven points, five aces and four digs.

Ellie Shipman, the team’s top setter, recorded a team-high nine assists and 14 digs. Shipman also chipped in with seven kills, four aces and four points.

When the Blue Bombers had dug themselves into a hole, Shipman said they kept fighting for their seniors. The sophomore said they didn’t want them to walk off the court disappointed in what they could’ve done.

“We don’t want to look back on this game, however far back into the future and regret that we didn’t give it our all,” Shipman said.

Lake Placid was also playing without one of its starters, Adiss Livesey-Ferry, who was sick. Patinella said that with her absence, a lot of people had to step up into different places.

Lake Placid’s Ellie Shipman gets ready to set the ball during Thursday’s Section VII, Class C Championship game against AuSable Valley at Saranac Central School. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“We all missed (Livesey-Ferry); we knew she was watching on the camera,” she said. “That was also something I said during that timeout was that Adiss was texting our group chat, wishing us all luck, so I kept them updated with that. So she was here spiritually, but not literally.”

AuSable Valley’s Evalyn Parrow paced her team with a near triple-double, recording 10 assists, 10 digs and eight points. She also chipped in with five aces, three kills and one block. Eleanore Quinn also had a standout performance, recording 13 points, seven kills and six aces for the Patriots, who finished with a 3-11 overall record.

Meanwhile, Lake Placid improved to 5-13 with the win, with four of those victories coming in their final nine matches of the season. The Blue Bombers will now advance to the NYSPHSAA Subregional round where they take on the Section X champion, Madrid-Waddington Yellow Jackets, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday in Massena. The Yellow Jackets are 6-9-1 overall, after beating the Canton Golden Bears in the Sectional title game earlier this week.

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Individual statistics

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LP — Emma Lawrence 3 points, 2 aces, 1 kill, 11 digs; Brooke Meyer 3 points, 6 aces, 6 kills, 5 digs; Ellie Shipman 4 points, 4 aces, 7 kills, 9 assists, 14 digs; Fiona Sullivan 7 points, 5 aces, 7 kills, 4 digs; August Hollrock 7 digs; Sophie Spanburgh 1 ace, 3 kills, 1 block; Ireland Cassidy 5 points, 4 aces, 3 kills, 1 assist, 10 digs, 1 block; Elyse Hathaway 4 points, 2 aces, 6 digs, 1 block.

AV — Karlie Christensen 8 points, 2 aces, 2 kills, 3 assists, 5 digs; Eleanore Quinn 13 points, 6 aces, 7 kills; Raegan Douglass 6 points, 3 aces, 3 kills, 7 digs; Laurelie Brassard 6 points, 4 aces, 1 kill, 9 digs; Kaylee Axtell 7 points, 1 ace, 8 kills, 4 digs, 1 block; Evalyn Parrow 8 points, 5 aces, 3 kills, 10 assists, 10 digs, 1 block; Ava Brown 8 digs.