Now it was the Baldwinsville boys volleyball team’s turn to take to the court, determined to upend Oswego and reclaim the Section III Class AA throne.
Sure enough, the Bees and Buccaneers met up on Thursday night. As the visitors, B’ville got off to the ideal start, but could not sustain it in a four-set defeat.
A tight opening set went back and forth, but the Bees prevailed 25-22. That set the tone as neither side was able to generate any sort of sustained run.
The difference was that the Bucs were able to get all the key points at the end of those sets. Oswego claimed the second set by that same 25-22 margin, won the third set 25-21 to move in front, and held on 25-23 in the fourth set, just keeping B’ville from extending the match to the wire.
Up front, Shawn Calnan led the Bees with 15 kills and Nick Racha had 12 kills, with Calnan contributing six assists. Grady Schmidt got seven kills and three blocks as Kevin Drain picked up five kills and five blocks. Chris Drain fed all of them with 34 assists.
On Oswego’s side, Dylan Lavner (18 kills, 13 digs), Tom Dillon (10 kills, 19 digs) and Zach Gillard (14 kills, five blocks) split up the front-line work as Josh Carney managed 43 assists.
For its season opener, the Bees met Central Square last Tuesday night, prevailing in a three-set sweep over the Red Hawks.
Drain finished with 37 assists. Some of those passes went to Calnan, who had 10 kills, just ahead of Drain (eight kills) and Anthony DeMarco (seven kills). Mike Bernet got five kills and Racha managed three kills, with Tyler Weber picking up five digs.
Right after Oswego, B’ville returned to the win column Friday with a 25-23, 25-21, 25-21 sweep that drew a much larger crowd when fans taking shelter during the football weather delay came into the gym to add support to both teams.
The larger crowd saw a terrific match where the Bees held on in each set, pushed there by Chris Drain, who gathered up 29 assists. Calnan had 10 kills, while Kevin Drain had six kills and six blocks, Schmidt added eight blocks and DeMarco picked up five kills. Racha contributed four kills and Weber gained six digs.
To start off another successful week, Baldwinsville’s girls team hosted West Genesee, only sweating a bit in the third set, but still managing the 25-13, 25-10, 25-23 sweep of the Wildcats.
Madison Whitney had a career-best nine kills, one of 11 different players to get at least one spike before it was done as Allegra Lee Bell added six kills and two aces.
Maureen Thayer picked up 25 assists and four aces, while Whitney had three aces. Maddy Price, Sarah Herman and Karley Gutchess gained four kills apiece.
A day later, the Bees swept Henninger 25-8, 25-10, 25-14. Thayer earned seven aces to go with her 12 assists, while Rachel Aiello managed five aces and four assists. Caryn Salce also had four aces as Bell and Lexi Lagoy got four kills apiece. Price and Melissa Voyer each had three kills.
