ONONDAGA COUNTY – Area high school girls volleyball teams all made their starts at different points before and after Labor Day weekend, each of them finding their way to the win column.
Fayetteville-Manlius would host a tournament last Saturday where the visiting teams included Jamesville-DeWitt, plus the likes of Liverpool, West Genesee, Cazenovia, Westhill and Phoenix.
The Hornets were able to win in the Gold division, with Cazenovia taking the Silver division title.
Prior to that, F-M had flattened Henninger 25-4, 25-6, 25-8 last Wednesday night as Zoe Myint, who had 19 assists, picked up six aces and Kayla Dannenberg contributed five aces. Kaylene Nobel put away 12 kills and Molly McNany finished with eight digs.
Jamesville-DeWitt went before everyone else, having its first match agianst LaFayette on Aug. 30 and sweeping past the Lancers 25-12, 27-25, 25-13.
Only the second set proved stressful for the Red Rams as Sophia Ferris amassed 10 aces, 11 digs and six kills, leading her team in each of those categories. Cadence Milligan had 10 assists as Sheila Phoha earned five aces.
Then J-D lost in three sets to Marcellus 25-16, 25-13, 25-12 on Sept. 2, unable to keep up with a Mustangs side that went 10-0 in the spring. Ferris still had five kills and nine digs, with Elsa Hardt getting six blocks as Milligan had eight assists and eight digs.
Against Liverpool on Sept. 4, the Rams won the first set 27-25, only to see the Warriors claim the next three sets 25-15, 25-14 and 25-15. Milligan still had 23 assists, with Ferris getting 10 kills and 14 digs as Hardt had five aces and seven kills. Natalie Goodson finished with nine digs.
Shaking this off, J-D went to Oswego last Thursday and swept the Buccaneers in three sets 25-19, 25-21, 25-18, Ferris earning eight kills, seven aces and 12 digs as Milligan got 18 assists and Goodson doubled her total to 18 digs. Hardt had four kills and three aces.
Bishop Grimes took on Jordan-Elbridge in its Sept. 2 opener, and helped in no small part by a tough win in the second set, the Cobras swept the Eagles 25-20, 28-26, 25-19.
Avery Burnette was strong on the front line, earning 16 kills. Tori Sikorski and Hannah Kinne finished with five kills apiece as Tori Coppola fed them with 24 assists. Ashley Ince had nine digs as Sikorski and Burnett each earned seven digs.
During Thursday’s match against Hamilton, the Cobras rebounded from a 25-17 loss in the first set to dominate the second set 25-14, only to have the Emerald Knights win the next two sets 25-20 and 25-14.
Still, Grimes won on Saturday over Living Word Academy 25-20, 25-15, 25-14, mostly due to Burnette’s 13 aces as she added nine digs. Sikorski had four kills and three aces, with Ince adding 13 digs and Coppola earning nine assists.
