<\/p>\n
Columbia celebrates during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA\u00a0finals against Bethlehem on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Columbia senior Tessa Warner sets the ball during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA\u00a0finals against Bethlehem on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
The Columbia bench cheers for its team during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA\u00a0finals against Bethlehem on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
The Columbia girls’ volleyball team celebrates after beating Bethlehem for the Section 2 Class AA championship on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025 at Saratoga Springs High School.<\/p>\n
Adam Shinder\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Columbia junior Emma Mitchell taps the ball over the hands of Bethlehem senior Kaitlyn Donovan during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA finals on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Bethlehem fans cheer for their team during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA\u00a0finals against Columbia on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Bethlehem head coach Lisa Kniffin during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA\u00a0finals against Columbia on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Columbia fans cheer for their team during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA\u00a0finals against Bethlehem on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Bethlehem senior Tess Bartholomew dives to the ball during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA finals against Columbia on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Columbia head coach Chris Hosley during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA\u00a0finals against Bethlehem on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Columbia sophomore Catalina Lopez sets the ball during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA\u00a0finals against Bethlehem on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
SARATOGA\u00a0SPRINGS \u2014 Though Columbia was the No. 2 seed and Bethlehem the No. 1 seed for the Section 2 Class AA girls\u2019 volleyball tournament, the Blue Devils headed into Friday night\u2019s championship match having already pulled out a five-set win over the top seed when the teams met in a Suburban Council match in late September.<\/p>\n
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But, in preparing for the sectional final, Columbia coach Chris Hosley didn\u2019t want his team thinking about that result at all.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe try not to talk about those types of things, give ourselves false confidence,\u201d Hosley said. \u201cWe just try to trust the things we do in practice and know that every team we (face), the match is going to get more and more challenging. We weren\u2019t taking anything for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n
That approach benefited the Blue Devils, who won their second area title in three years by beating Bethlehem in straight sets, 25-19, 25-23, 25-13, at Saratoga Springs High School.<\/p>\n
Columbia (14-4 overall) fell behind in each of the first two sets before eventually carving out an advantage, then emphatically put the championship away in the final set.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like that shows how much of a family we are, and how much fight we have and how bad we wanted it,\u201d said Columbia senior setter and co-captain Tessa Warner.<\/p>\n
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It was a win that provided a sense of redemption for Columbia. After winning the 2023 Class AA title, the Blue Devils were the No. 1 seed for last year\u2019s tournament, but were stunned in the semifinals by eventual champion Niskayuna.<\/p>\n
\u201cSince August, we\u2019ve had a really big drive to win,\u201d Columbia senior outside hitter Keira Cook said. \u201cLast year, we lost in the semifinals. This year, we wanted to come back and just play our best, and I think that really helped us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Columbia senior Keira Cook blocks a shot by Bethlehem senior Avery Bush during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA finals on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim Franco\/Times Union)<\/p>\n
Jim Franco\/Times Union<\/p>\n
Cook led the way for Columbia, finishing with 15 kills. Five of those came during the third set, including four as part of a 10-0 run that helped the Blue Devils open up a 14-4 lead and made the championship victory seem inevitable.<\/p>\n
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Emma Mitchell added nine kills for Columbia, Ava Tran contributed eight kills and nine digs, Warner dished out 28 assists and Catalina Lopez accumulated 26 digs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy hitters were really connecting with me, and, as the setter, that\u2019s exactly what you want,\u201d Warner said. \u201cFull credit to my passers. I couldn\u2019t do it without them, and I\u2019m so proud of us. That\u2019s what I love about us, we\u2019re always fighting.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Bethlehem (16-3), Friday\u2019s loss was a disappointing end to what had been a brilliant season. The Eagles, who lost to Niskayuna in last year\u2019s area Class AA final, came up a win shy of the program\u2019s first sectional championship since 2009.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is the closest team that I\u2019ve ever coached,\u201d Bethlehem coach Lisa Kniffin said. \u201cThey support each other, they always have each others\u2019 backs. It\u2019s going to be hard not going back to the gym next week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Columbia will play next in a NYSPHSAA subregional game on Wednesday against the Section 3 champion at Tully High School. The Blue Devils were eliminated in the regional round by Section 3\u2019s West Genesee following their last area championship in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Columbia celebrates during the Section 2 Class\u00a0AA\u00a0finals against Bethlehem on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025, in Saratoga, NY. (Jim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":49638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[1216,153,155,154,27246,1215,296,28584,726],"class_list":{"0":"post-49637","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-alco","9":"tag-bethlehem","10":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","11":"tag-bethlehem-news","12":"tag-hs-other-fall","13":"tag-latestnews","14":"tag-local","15":"tag-rensco","16":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}