Since then, Birner has focused on improving his team’s serving leading into this season. Wednesday was the first chance for Westfield’s home crowd to see their hard work in action, and it didn’t take long for the improvements to show up.

Of the first 15 points of Wednesday’s nonleague contest against the Sherman Wildcats, the Westfield Wolverines racked up five aces, including the first two points of the match. Just over an hour later, the Wolverines celebrated a three-set victory in their home opener by a score of 25-17, 25-13, 25-20 at Westfield Academy & Central School.

“It’s always nice to be on our game serving. It’s always been something that held us back,” Birner said. “We’ve been harping on serving. … When our serves are on, we can maintain the games.”

Westfield (1-0) won the Routes 5 and 20 Tournament in Dunkirk to kick off the year, and once the regular season began, the Wolverines carried over that momentum effortlessly. Nahlia Douglas opened the contest with a pair of aces, followed by an ace from three different teammates — Maddie Burgess, Mackenzie Schumaker and Avery Smith — to pull ahead 10-5.

Westfield’s Avery Smith serves during a nonleague girls volleyball match against Sherman on Wednesday in Westfield. P-J photo by Braden Carmen

Sherman (0-1) responded nicely with seven straight points to take a 12-10 lead. The Wildcats played well throughout the night whenever they managed to return the serve, often sticking with Westfield’s attack on long rallies.

“The difference in this game was our serve receive. Overall, I felt like our girls were moving. They played solid defense besides the serve receive,” said Sherman head coach Jason Yohe.

Arielle Corbett put Westfield ahead 14-12 with the team’s sixth ace of the contest, then moments later, Rylan Jakse delivered a violent spike to kill Sherman’s effort to even the score. Westfield gradually pulled away the rest of the set, with Schumaker recording the team’s seventh ace of the opening set to leave Westfield a point away from closing it out.

“I really feel like getting the ball in volley is where I want to be. Yes, I’ll take aces all day long, but if we get a ball in volley, that’s where I want to start winning,” Birner said.

Sherman started the second set strong with four of the first six points, but Westfield got its momentum back on a strong spike from Avery Smith that made its way through a block attempt at the net. After the next two points split, Westfield then took control of the serve back even at 5-5.

Smith said she knew she was in a crucial spot when she took over the serve and looked to Birner for her spots. She got her marks and said, “I knew I had to hit them.”

She certainly came through.

Smith dropped the hammer on Sherman and put her team in firm control of the contest with three aces herself over the next nine points. In all, 12 straight points were scored by the Wolverines. What was a 5-4 Sherman advantage early in the set quickly turned into a 16-5 lead for Westfield.

“It’s a great feeling,” Smith said of the run she went on. “Once I put a couple in and keep hitting my spots, it just keeps rolling.”

The Wolverines did not look back after their strong surge with Smith on serve. Isabella Sorrento closed out the second set with a kill for a score of 25-13.

Sherman stuck with it even down 2-0. The Wildcats scored the first three points of the third set, and even after Westfield answered with nine of the next 11 points, Sherman battled back again to even the score at 11-all.

“I’m very happy with how they played tonight, even though the score doesn’t show it. I’m very happy with how it’s coming along. We’re just going to get better and better as the season goes on,” Yohe said.

Westfield scored the next five points for a 16-11 advantage, and from there, the two teams were separated by at least four points for the rest of the set.

“If we go down 5-0 or we go up 5-0, nothing has changed. We are still the team that we are,” Birner said. “Keeping our confidence level is part of volleyball.”

In all, seven Wolverines recorded at least one ace. Schumaker led the way with five aces, along with three kills. Smith had four aces and two kills. Douglas led the team with four kills to go with her two aces to open the contest. Molly Burgess had a team-high eight digs, while Maddie Burgess had 13 assists and five digs.

Sherman had seven aces and seven kills as a team. Carlie Gable accounted for three of the team’s nine digs. Caylee Pinzok had all six assists for Sherman. Emmersen Crawford had two kills, two blocks and a dig.

Birner stressed that this year’s Westfield team is deeper than most in the region. He feels that of his 12 players, some of the athletes on the bench would be starters on many other teams.

“We’ve got to support each other 100%. If we play like a team, we can go far in this league,” Birner said.

Smith said the Wolverines will only gain more confidence after Wednesday’s victory. “This boosts (our confidence) a lot. I think we’re going to be good this year,” Smith said.