CENTRAL NEW YORK – Having conquered plenty of possible challengers to its 45-match win streak the Jamesville-DeWitt boys volleyball team continued to add to it, partially at the expense of one of its neighbors.
Meeting Fayetteville-Manlius Wednesday night, the Red Rams found itself in quite a battle that almost led to a late deficit before it was able to top the Hornets in four sets.
All of it swung in the third set. Having won the opener 25-19, J-D had seen F-M win the second 25-20 and then, in the next set, stay right with the Rams, getting within two points of going in front.
Somehow, J-D didn’t let that happen, taking that third set 25-23 and then holding on 25-20 in the fourth to keep the streak going as Carsen Kaelin was quite busy all match, responsible for more than half his team’s points through his season-best 56 assists.
Avery Kielbasinski also hurt F-M, putting away 29 kills to set his own season mark. Help came from Owen Dougherty, who had 14 kills, along with Kian Sarmast’s six kills and Ryan Keough’s five kills. Sarmast also had a team-best 10 digs.
Battling to the end, the Hornets got 14 kills from Ben Resig and 10 kills from Charlie Schroder, with Nathan Houck adding seven kills. Passing to all of them, Patrick Horton managed 33 digs, Resig earning 10 digs and Ethan Wong adding nine digs.
During Monday’s 25-21, 25-21, 25-19 sweep of Syracuse City, J-D saw Kielbasinski put away 17 kills to go with four blocks and five digs, fed by Kaelin, who had 34 assists and five digs.
Dougherty earned six kills and nine digs, with Keough close behind as he got five kills. Sarmast added seven digs and Zach Hildreth got six digs.
Then J-D closed out another successful week by again putting away Liverpool in three sets Friday night by scores of 25-20, 25-17 and 25-22.
With his 30 assists, Kaelin saw Kielbasinski manage 14 kills and four blocks, with Dougherty adding five blocks and Chine Okerke returning to form as he matched Dougherty’s eight kills. Sarmast contributed five kills.
That same night, F-M found itself pushed to five sets by Baldwinsville.
Each of the first four sets were tight ones, the Bees taking the opener 25-22 before the Hornets claimed the second 25-23 and a long third set 27-25, only to have B’ville pull back even with a tense 25-23 win in the fourth.
Only the final set had any kind of margin, F-M finally subduing the Bees 15-8 led by Horton’s 44 assists and Resig’s 19 kills. Houck had 11 kills, Schroder adding nine kills and Wong earning seven kills as Crisafulli’s eight digs were just behind Houck’s nine digs.
East Syracuse Minoa, denied twice in competitive matches against J-D this fall, moved to 13-1 against everyone else when it fought off Oswego in a pair of 25-20 sets before pulling out the third 27-25 for the sweep.
Donovan Randall’s 32 assists (with help from Tommy Clonan’s five assists) went to a Spartans front line where Tyler Quarry and Jacob McGuigan each got 11 kills, McGuigan adding four blocks. Ryan Sullivan and Caleb Byrd had matching totals of seven kills and Rocco Cambareri added six kills. Clonan produced 10 digs and Randall six digs.
It was close, too, on Wednesday against Central Square, but even with its top players resting all the important points seemed to go to the Spartans in a 25-23, 25-22, 27-25 decision over the Redhawks.
Clonan took a turn as setter and earned 17 assists, adding 10 digs and five kills. Brady Clappin stepped up, too, leading the front line with 12 kills, while Phil Evans put up seven kills and Anthony Fogel managed 11 digs.
