Once more, the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team enters the Section III playoffs without a defeat on its ledger.
The Bees needed two more wins last week to close out a 16-0 regular season, and got one of them last Tuesday night at Cicero-North Syracuse, and just like in their Sept. 30 meeting, B’ville swept the Northstars.
By scores of 25-18, 25-10 and 25-17, the Bees handled C-NS, with back-line duties split by Hannah Klaben, who got 16 assists, six digs, three kills and three blocks, and Maddie Stone, who contributed 15 assists as Emily Pascale managed 16 digs and two aces.
Up front, Abby May and Michelle Voyer matched each other with 11 kills and five digs. Katie Welcher had five kills, with Kiannah Titus earning four kills. For C-NS, Savannah Ciciarelli had 18 digs, Kayla Tutt earned 12 assists and Mallory Eymer managed nine kills.
All that was left for the Bees was Thursday’s Senior Night match against Fayetteville-Manlius, which it handled with ease, tearing through the Hornets 25-8 in the first set, 25-13 in the second set and 25-14 in the third set.
Klaben still managed 14 assists and Stone 10 assists, but it was May setting the tone for everyone else by serving up eight aces to go with five digs. Titus earned nine kills, with Voyer contributing seven kills and three blocks. Riley Carlucci chimed in with five kills as Pascale got eight digs and Klaben contributed four digs.
Gathering momentum for its Section III title defense, the Baldwinsville boys volleyball team claimed one of its most exciting victories of the season last Tuesday n ight when it went to Oswego and rallied to beat the Buccaneers in five sets.
These same two sides had met Oct. 1, with the Bees prevailing in four sets. In front of Oswego’s home fans, B’ville found it tougher, winning the opening set 25-16, but then dropping the next two sets by margins of 25-16 and 25-20.
Just in time, though, the Bees regained its top form, rolling through the fourth set 25-14 and then beating the Bucs 25-18 in the final set to finish off the match.
Dan Shorney managed 41 assists, plus four kills, while David Cerqua delivered 13 digs in front of a deep, active front line, which was led by Ryan Gell, who put away 17 kills and added four digs.
Nick Walker and Alex Brummer each gained eight kills and two aces. Liam Wicks managed seven kills and four blocks, while Riley Shanon had six kills. Cole Patnode had two kills and two blocks.
On Oswego’s side, Kyle Kon had 21 kills, just ahead of Jake Caster (16 kills), Trevor Bradshaw (15 kills) and Trey Clark (12 kills, five aces), all of them fed by Jason Proud, who piled up 50 assists in a valiant effort.
Just 24 hours later, in the regular-season finale against Central Square, B’ville improved its record to 13-4 and made Senior Night a successful one, turning back the Redhawks in an impressive sweep where it won the second set 25-7 and the third set 25-5 after a 25-17 opening-set victory.
Gell had five of the Bees’ 15 aces, while Walker had three aces and matched Gell’s total of five kills. Brummer led with seven kills and Cole Patnode had four kills as Max Thurston chimed in with three kills. Shorney, with 16 assists, got some help from Nick Abraham, who finished with five assists.
