Contributed Photo – Jacob Bruning

Making it three wins in a row, Roy-Hart graduate Jacob Bruning hurled Niagara University to a 8-5 victory over Marist Friday.

Bruning, who is a junior Marketing Major at Niagara, scattered 7 hits and struck out 4 over six and two-thirds innings in the win.

His previous two wins were narrow one run decisions. He went five and two-thirds innings in a 8-7 win over Quinnipiac giving up 7 hits with 8 strikeouts. He then went six and one-third innings in a 3-2 victory over rival Canisius scattering 5 hits and striking out 6.

He has pitched 27 innings to date this season allowing a total of 23 hits and striking out 25 in posting a 3-1 record on the mound.

It will be the first of its kind event for this area as the Rotary Club of Medina is planning to hold its First Annual Pickleball Tournament the weekend of July 10 and 11 on the Medina High School tennis courts.

Pickleball is a paddleball sport that combines elements of badminton, table tennis, and tennis. Two or four players use solid paddles made of wood or composite materials to hit a perforated polymer ball, much like a wiffle ball, with 26-40 round holes, over a net.

Tournament Director Carl Tuohey believes this will become the biggest annual fundraiser for the Rotary Club.  “Pickleball is a fast-growing sport and this is the first tournament to be held in this area.

“This inaugural tournament will be a ‘fun’ tournament,” he added. “USPA rules will apply and players will make their own calls.  It will not be a sanctioned tournament this year but we hope to get to that point in the near future.”

While promoted as one tournament there will be four separate tournaments: Men’s Singles, Women’s Singles, Men’s Doubles and Women’s Doubles.  The two Singles tournaments will be held on Saturday, July 10th with the Doubles tournaments on Sunday, July 11th.

There will be a limit of 32 total registrations each day, with eight slots reserved for the Men’s tournaments and eight slots reserved for the Women’s tournaments.  The remaining 16 spots will be filled in the order payment was received regardless of gender.

There will be food vendors onsite and spectators are encouraged to come watch.  “If you are unfamiliar with pickleball then this is your chance to see the game” said Tuohey.

Player registration is $15 plus $10 per event entered.  Registration opens on Saturday, May 1st.  It ends on either Wednesday, June 30th or when all the slots are filled.  Players need to register online.

In addition, the Rotary Club will be collecting canned goods for the local food bank.  These items can be turned in at the Information Table either Saturday or Sunday.

“We hope and believe the people and businesses in the area will support this” says Tuohey.  “Rotary will be seeking sponsors, volunteers and pickleball nets in the coming weeks.”

Participants will need to register at www.medinarotary.org/pickleball.  For more information visit the Rotary website or contact the Rotary Club at medinanyrotary@gmail.com.

A fourth quarter rally came up just short as Albion dropped a narrow 26-21 decision at Olean this evening in a B2 Division game.

Trailing 26-7, Albion came battling back in the final quarter scoring two touchdowns on a 10 yard run by quarterback Amari Jones and a 12 yard pass from Amari Jones to Javon Jones but could get no closer than the final five point margin. Amari Jones passed to Chris Shabazz for the two point conversion after the first TD.

Amari Jones had a 35 yard pass completion to highlight the first TD drive and completions of 19 yards to Tyler Gibson, 17 to Javon Jones and 10 to Bailey Blanchard on the second .

The Purple Eagles other touchdown came in the second quarter on a Amari Jones to Gibson 39 yard pass play as DeClan McCue again added the extra point kick.

Amari Jones completed 15 of 23 passes for 232 yards and the two TDs on the evening. Gibson caught 7 passes for 107 yards. Javon Jones 3 for 64 and Shabazz 3 for 42.

Capitalizing on a pair of Albion turnovers, the host Huskies jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead and extended the advantage to 26-7 at the half.

Olean is now 3-1 and Albion 1-3. The Purple Eagles will next host Lake Shore next Friday evening at 7.

In another B2 contest, Depew improved to 3-1 by blanking Maryvale (1-3) 21-0.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Holley’s Kayleigh Neale spikes the ball over Lyndonville’s Lorelei Dillenbeck during the Lady Hawks win over the host Lady Tigers this evening.

Closing out the Genesee Region League volleyball season on a high note, Holley bested host Lyndonville 25-15, 14-25, 25-20, 25-14 this evening.

Leading 20-15, Holley closed out the first set as the Lady Hawks regained possession on a spike kill by Tia Hoffarth and then Rachel Kinsey served up the last four points in a row.

Lyndonville though answered back with a second set win to tie the match, a win highlighted by a big run of nine straight service points by Lorelei Dillenbeck (3-11), a run which included three straight aces.

Lyndonville’s Ella Lewis spikes against the Holley duo of Tatum Gagne (7) and Rachel Kinsey (8).

Gracie Johnson added points 13-15 and Chloe Stinson 18-20 before Cianna Button served up the final three registering an ace for No. 25.

Holley regained the lead for good by taking the third set which was tied 10 times before Rachel Howard served up four in a row (18-21), including two aces, to put the Lady Hawks on top to stay at 21-17. Grace Mckeon added kills for points 22 and 23 and Hoffarth a kill for No. 24 to help the Lady Hawks close out the set.

The Lady Hawks then closed out the win by taking the fourth set which was highlighted by a big run of seven straight service points by Hoffarth (14-20), including three aces, giving Holley a 20-10 lead.

Howard then had a kill for point 22 and Mckeon a kill for No. 25 to lock up the set and the match for the Lady Hawks.

Hoffarth finished with 5 kills for points, Mckeon 4 and Kayleigh Neale 3. Howard had 3 aces and Halee Passarell, Hoffarth and Kinsey 2 each.

For Lyndonville, Johnson had 4 kills and Ella Lewis 2 while Lorelei Dillenbeck had 4 aces, Button 3 and Johnson two.

Holley’s Grace Mckeon spikes against Lyndonville defender Gracie Johnson.

Sparked by an overtime win in the opening set, Kendall bested Oakfield-Alabama 27-25, 25-23, 25-13 Thursday night to finish second in the Genesee Region League Division 2 standings and lock up a berth in the upcoming Section V playoffs.

Lauren Pilon had 8 kills, 8 aces and 6 digs; Madison Shonitsky 11 assists, 5 aces and 4 kills and Shelby Kruger 6 digs, 4 assists and 3 kills to lead the way for Kendall which finishes the regular season at 7-6.

In another G-R match Friday, Attica defeated Holley 25-18, 25-23, 25-16.

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Rylee Pearles (3) and Emily Graham (7) block the spike attempt of Newfane’s Jensen McGhee during this evening’s Niagara-Orleans League match at Albion which was won by the visiting Lady Panthers.

Jumping out to a two set lead at the outset, Newfane went on to defeat host Albion 25-20, 25-19, 10-25, 25-19 this evening in a Niagara-Orleans League volleyball match.

Sparking Newfane in the opening set Lauren Bax served up points 7-10, Teya Wedekind 12-14, Sarah Leibring 18-21 and Ava Morgan 24-25 as the set winner was an ace.

Albion’s Maya Knaak spikes over Newfane’s Teya Wedekind as Rylee Pearles backs up the play.

Keeping the momentum, the Lady Panthers took the second set as Emma Hoffer had back-to-back aces for points 15 and 16 and Jensen McGhee key spiking kills for points 22 and 25.

Albion though got back into the match by rolling to a 15 point win in the third set as Rylee Pearles served up points 2-4 including an ace, Honesty Little 6-9 with one ace, Emily Graham 11-15 with an ace, Madison Hughson 17-18 and Maya Knaak 20-22 with an ace. Little also had a key kill for point 24.

Short three point bursts of service points by Knaak (8-10) and Little (14-16) kept Albion within a point of Newfane at 17-16 late in the fourth set.

However, Newfane scored 8 of the next 11 points to win the set and lock up the match. Leibring served up points 19-20 to help spark that decisive Lady Panthers run.

Newfane is now 2-3 and Albion 0-4 in N-O action.

Akron 25-25-25, Roy-Hart 22-18-10

Defending co-champion Akron stayed undefeated at 6-0 with a straight set 25-22, 25-18, 25-10 victory over Roy-Hart.

Jessee Jonathan had 21 assists, 5 aces and 4 kills, Sydney Hall 6 kills and 4 blocks, Ella Hill 8 kills and Jayni Sundown 5 kills to lead the way for Akron.

The week two results of the Meadworks Axe League competition are as follows. The scores are the accumulated totals for the first two weeks.

Total Team (both partners, individual scores added together): 1 – Mother Chuckers 366, 2 – Celtic Bastards 319, 3 – Falco’s Mercenaries 302, 4 – We Like Big Axes 300, 5 – Great Axpectations 295, 6 – Axes and Ohs 288, 7 – Bustin Axes 281, 8 – Davis & Lisa Gnome 272, 9 – Hack Job Moo Cows 262, 10 – Pain in the Axe Axe Throwing 258, 11 – Wenches 255, 12 – Bad Axes 250, 13 – Axelorians 232, 14 – Lizzie Bordens 216, 15 – Swoosh 195, 16 – Miskatonic ReCreators 175

Duals (teammates throwing on the same target, same time) : 1 – Mother Chuckers 156, 2 – Celtic Bastards 144, 3 – Falco’s Mercenaries 136, 4 – Hack Job Moo Cows 130, 5 – Davis & Lisa Gnome 129, 6 – We Like Big Axes 129, 7 – Pain in the Axe 118, 8 – Great Axpectations 113, 9 – Wenches 113, 10 – Axes and Ohs 97, 11 – Bustin Axes 94, 12 – Axelorians 92, 13 – Miskatonic ReCreators 91, 14 – Bad Axes 79, 15 – Lizzie Bordens 73, 16 – Swoosh 54

A marathon overtime second set win (32-30) highlighted Kendall’s 25-23, 32-30, 25-16 victory over Elba this evening as the Lady Eagles regain the .500 mark in Genesee Region League volleyball competition at 6-6.

Sara Mattle had 7 spiking kills, 2 service aces and 4 digs, Lauren Pilon 10 digs and 5 kills and Madison Shonitsky 9 assists, 5 digs, 4 kills and 3 aces to lead the way for Kendall.

For Elba, Carolyn Sybertz had 5 aces, Leah Bezon 5 kills and Taylor Augello and Laci Sewar 4 kills each.

Alexander 25-25-25, Lyndonville 23-19-16

Coming from behind in both of the first two sets, Alexander rallied to defeat visiting Lyndonville 25-23, 25-19, 25-16 in a G-R match.

Lorelei Dillenbeck had 4 kills, 3 aces, 8 digs and 5 blocks, Chloe Stinson 11 digs and Cianna Button 8 assists and 2 aces for Lyndonville.

Byron-Bergen 25-25-27, Pembroke 18-14-25

Improving to 11-2, Byron-Bergen downed Pembroke 25-18, 25-14, 27-25 in another G-R contest.

Lexi Vurraro had 13 assists, 3 aces and 2 kills, Jorie Strzelecki 5 kills and 7 digs and Julia Pangrazio 5 kills, 3 aces and 3 digs to pace Byron-Bergen.

Photo by Cheryl Wertman – Albion’s Sh’kwe Riley, shown here picking up yardage during last week’s win over Dunkirk, and his Purple Eagles teammates will visit Olean Friday for a key B2 Division contest.

Looking to keep the momentum from last week’s first win, Albion will make the long trek into the Southern Tier Friday to face Olean at 7 p.m. in a key B2 Division game.

Albion is now 1-1 in the division and 1-2 overall while Olean is 2-1 in the division and overall after  handing Depew (2-1) its first loss last weekend by a narrow 28-23 margin. Depew had bested Albion 28-14 the week before.

The Huskies were sparked against the Wildcats by quarterback Railey Silvis who ran for one touchdown and also completed 8 of 11 pass for 191 yards and two TDs all to receiver Jason Brooks.

The Purple Eagles were led in last week’s 26-12 victory over Dunkirk by quarterback Amari Jones who rushed for one touchdown and passed to Bailey Blanchard for another and by running back Sh’kwe Riley who rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns.

Albion holds a 6-4 lead in the all-time series against Olean. The Purple Eagles and Huskies last met twice during the 2019 campaign. Albion won both meetinga by margins of 49-26 during the regular season and 21-14 in the sectional playoffs.

Friday’s other B2 contests will have Depew at Maryvale and Maritime at Lake Shore.

B2 Standings: Maritime 2-0, 2-0; Olean 2-1, 2-1; Depew 2-1, 2-1; Lake Shore 1-1, 2-1; Albion 1-1, 1-2; Maryvale 1-2, 1-2; Dunkirk 0-3, 0-3.

8 Man Division Playoffs Set

The semifinals of the Section V 8 Man Division football playoffs on Saturday will have No. 4 CG Finney (3-3) at No. 1 Red Jacket  (5-0) at 1 p.m. and No. 3 Perry (4-2) at No. 2 Pembroke (5-1) at 6 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for April 30.

Finney gained a playoff berth by downing Holley 40-20 on Tuesday.

Pembroke earned the No. 2 seed by defeating Perry 42-6 on Tuesday as Garrett Totten rushed for 210 yards and 3 touchdowns, quarterback Connor Peterson ran for one TD and passed for another and defensive back Keith Neureuter returned a pass interception a school record 105 yards for a TD.