Even teams as good as West Genesee girls volleyball can get bitten by nerves when facing a great opponent.
The measure of those players is how they respond when those yips head down the road toward panic.
The Wildcats emerged from that test Monday night a little bit tougher and still perfect.
West Genesee shrugged off a loss in the first set and a scare in the fourth to power past Cicero-North Syracuse 3-1 in a showdown of unbeatens in the Northstars' gym.
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The Wildcats (9-0) emerged 19-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22.
"We're very excited to play them. We've been waiting for a while to play them. And both teams were undefeated. So I think we're a little nervous," coach Carrie Corley said of her team's slow start. "We just weren't flowing really well, and C-NS was playing really well. I just told them, just take a deep breath and go out there and play our game and let that first set go."
Eliana Becker paced West Genesee with 18 digs and 39 assists and Miley Ginty delivered 16 kills to quiet a boisterous C-NS crowd.
"I just told them, 'There are a lot of fans there. Everybody's really excited and really loud. Just try to zone it out and not listen, not get too distracted by the fans, but just have fun and enjoy the moment.' We were ready," Corley said.
The Northstars dropped to 8-1.
After the Wildcats seemed to take command by winning the second and third sets, the Northstars pushed back. C-NS led the fourth set 22-17 before Corley called a timeout.
The coach found the exact right words. West Genesee took eight points in a row to settle the issue.
"I just looked at them. I said, 'We can do this, we're going to do this.' And they all just looked at me and shook their heads and they went out and they did it," Corley said. "They had to play almost error-free volleyball."
West Genesee has moved up to Class AAA this season after winning the AA sectionals two years ago and reaching the finals last year. The higher level hasn't caused the Wildcats too much sweat yet — the team has won 27 of a possible 29 sets on the season.
"We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves. We have so much talent and a lot of firepower. So we're just trying to put it all together and keep our composure and just build our confidence and I think we have a lot of potential to do some great things this year, but we just got to stay within ourselves and go one game at a time. We don't want to get too overwhelmed."
West Genesee returns to action Thursday vs. Indian River, while C-NS takes on Corcoran the same day.
