Even if the timing was fortuitous, the effort the Cicero-North Syracuse boys volleyball team put out in last Wednesday night’s five-set victory over Fayetteville-Manlius was still quite admirable.
The Northstars had caught the Hornets just 24 hours removed from an epic five-set win at previously unbeaten Oswego, and this match would prove just as close, all the way to the end.
Inching in front, C-NS won a long opening set 27-25, only to have F-M claim an equally tight second set 25-23 and then win the third set by that same margin.
Unfazed, the Northstars won the fourth set 25-19, setting up a long final set. Both sides had chances to win it, but at 26-26 C-NS got the serve back and managed to get the match point it needed for a 28-26 victory.
Between Garrett Coleman’s 45 assists and Robert Palucci’s 23 digs, C-NS was quite good on the back line. Andrew Bocyck finished with 11 kills, while Morgan Austen added 10 kills and nine digs. Sean Korbas had three kills and Luke Barnell managed four digs as F-M’s Louis Avellino (32 kills) and Tom Sager (19 kills) led the other side.
Liverpool lost its own five-set match to Jamesville-DeWitt on Wednesday night. Beaten 25-19 and 25-23 in the first two sets, the Warriors appeared to gain control by winning the next two sets 25-16, 25-12, and were two points from victory before the Red Rams pulled out the final set 27-25.
Dalton Horton led the way with 40 assists, seven kills and three aces. Joe Kenney picked up 11 kills, while Kevin Heimenz had a season-best eight kills. Ryan Turner (six kills) and Peter Humphreys (five kills) closely followed as Anthony Calabrese put together 22 digs. Griffin Feiner led J-D with 15 assists, 14 kills and six blocks.
C-NS started its busy week with a tough four-set victory over J-D. The Northstars won the first tset 25-19, only to drop the second set 25-23 and nearly lose the third set, too, before pulling it out 25-22 and going on to win the fourth set by the same 25-19 margin as the opener.
Coleman picked up 41 assists, his passes going to Josh Rodriguez, who gained 21 kills, and Morgan Austen, who backed up his 12 kills with six digs, three aces and two blocks. Boczyk and Korbas each finished with six kills as Austin Tutt (seven digs) and Luke Barnell (four digs) contributed on the defensive side.
Finally getting a breather on Friday, C-NS swept Midlakes 25-15, 25-23, 25-15 as Aaron Goodell picked up 16 assists to give Coleman, who had 15 assists, some help. Austen had 12 kills and nine digs as Rodriguez managed 10 kills. Palucci and Barnell had 10 digs apiece.
Liverpool swept past the Syracuse city team on that same night, then got a 25-19, 25-14, 25-19 decision over Living Word Academy, where Horton finished with 26 assists. Kenney had nine kills this time around, with Humphreys contributing eight kills and four blocks. Calabrese had 10 digs as Foley managed four kills. Turner and Brendan Corp had three kills apiece.
In girls volleyball, Cicero-North Syracuse lost last Tuesday at Fayetteville-Manlius. After losing the first set 25-20, the Northstars won the second set 25-23, but could not sustain that momentum, falling to the Hornets 25-19 in the third set and just missing extending the match to the wire in a 25-23 fourth-set defeat.
Jess Doran led C-NS with 20 assists, adding eight digs. Tiffany Ryan amassed 33 digs and Samantha Roberts (15 digs) helped on the defensive side as Hannah Narburgh earned six kills and Elizabeth Miles added five kills. Sam Guillaume paced F-M with 34 assists as its head coach, Jerime McHerron, earned his 200th win with the Hornets.
In Wednesday night’s 25-19, 25-11, 19-25, 25-14 defeat to defending state Class AA champion Rochester Mercy, Hannah Millias had six kills, with Kira Kullman adding four kills. Ryan picked up 16 digs as Doran (nine assists) and Kelsey Hess (12 assists) shared back-line duties. Frankie Gleason added six digs.
Liverpool didn’t return to action until Thursday night, when it routed Nottingham 25-6, 25-5, 25-12. Meg Stonebarger still had 19 assists as Emily Flohr got six aces and four kills, with Dallas Merola adding five aces and Sam Wolf contributing four kills. Julia Mumpton had three aces and two kills.
