Continuing its quick start, the Jamesville-DeWitt girls volleyball team survived another tough match last Tuesday night, going to Central Square and prevailing in four sets over the Redhawks.
After an easy 25-13 win in the opening set, the Red Rams were jolted when Central Square pulled out the second set 25-23 to get even. After that, though, J-D regained control, claiming the next two sets by 25-17 and 25-19 margins to prevail.
Alexandria Payne put away 20 kills, while Alex Frank had 10 kills. Lexie Gambacorto earned seven kills as Juila Cavanaugh and Amy Shen each got five kills and Cavanaugh added five aces. Madeline Ferris fed all of them with 42 assists and Eva Dougherty added 20 assists. Payne, Gambacorto and Frank had eight digs apiece. Shen added seven digs.
Back home to face Auburn two nights later, the Red Rams roared past the Maroons 25-7, 25-11, 25-10. Shen had seven aces to go with her 10 kills as Cavanaugh nearly matched it with six aces and 10 kills. Frank and Payne added six kills apiece, Payne joining Gambacorto by getting six digs as Dougherty earned 19 assists and Ferris eight assists.
Meanwhile, Fayetteville-Manlius returned to the court last Tuesday night and took a three-set defeat to the Liverpool Warriors. Both the first and third sets went to the wire, but the Hornets could not grab either of them in a 25-23, 25-16, 26-24 decision.
Saara Vahtola and Paige Hulbert still earned nine kills apiece, with Jessica Burhle adding five kills and Vahtola a team-best seven digs. Erianna Madill got 24 assists, four digs, three kills and two aces as Alexandra Burhle adding three kills and four digs. Liverpool had 12 assists from Caitlyn Metrick and seven kills from Abby Anderson.
F-M, having fallen to 1-6, started to recover Thursday in a 25-18,, 25-10, 25-6 sweep of Corcoran. Diana DeVito managed 27 assists, feeding it to Vahtola, who had eight kills and eight digs, and Hulbert, who got seven kills. Jessica Burhle contributed five kills and Jillian Avery six digs as Hulbert had four aces and Emma Williams three kills.
Bishop Grimes swept Syracuse’s Institute of Technology Central last Monday, beating the Eagles 25-18, 25-10, 25-20.Many of the Cobras’ points came from Samantha Houck’s serve, as she amassed 20 aces, adding seven assists. Sarah Snavlin managed six aces, while Bri Squier had three aces to go with four kills. Maria Canzano had two kills.
Against Phoenix 24 hours later, Grimes lost in four sets, beaten up by 25-12 margins in each of the first two sets, and recovering to win 25-19 in the third set before the Firebirds closed it out, 25-14, in the fourth.
Houck had 10 assists, her passes going to Squier, who earned six kills and four aces, and Raquel McDonald, who earned four kills. Squier (seven digs) and Cazano (six digs) led the defensive effort.
But the most important of these matches was Thursday’s private-school showdown between Bishop Grimes and Bishop Ludden, and the Cobras were in control, but unable to hold on to a 2-0 lead in sets as it fell to the Gaelic Knights in five.
Each of the first sets proved close, and Grimes pulled them out by 27-25 and 25-23 margins. Ludden wasn’t discouraged by this, though, and proceeded to control everything from that point forward, wearing the Cobras down as it won those last three sets by margins of 25-13, 25-14 and 25-15.
Still, Houck had 25 assists and seven aces, plus five digs. Squier and McDonald had 10 kills apiece as Kendall Mancuso earned five kills and nine digs. Canzano earned 13 digs and Gutchess contributed seven digs.
In boys volleyball, Fayetteville-Manlius would take its shot at unbeaten, defending sectional Division I champion Cicero-North Syracuse last Wednesday night, but fall to the Northstars 25-18, 25-10, 25-17.
Ryan Boshart put together seven kills and four digs. Cade Collum had four kills, with Jacob Rhea putting together three kills, three blocks and four digs. Christopher Perry earned 14 assists, though his C-NS counterpart, Connor Millias, had 32 assists to lead his side as Trevor Caviness, with 15 kills, paced the Northstars’ front line.
Two nights earlier, F-M swept Liverpool 25-11, 25-19, 25-23, hanging on to get the sweep as Perry gained 28 assists and Dean Assenza had eight digs. Rhea, with 10 kills, led a well-balanced front line that included Collum (eight kills), Jack Fuller (seven kills) and Boshart, who had six kills and five digs.
Jamesville-DeWitt started its week’s work last Monday with a 25-18, 25-9, 25-17 defeat to Baldwinsville. Lucas Binder still managed six aces and eight digs, and Liam Kaplan earned 10 assists to go with six digs. Ryan Middleton added two aces, four digs and two kills.
Back home Wednesday night to face Oswego, the Red Rams could not gain a set from the Buccaneers, despite two close calls, in a 25-13, 25-22, 25-23 defeat.
Kaplan improved to 14 assists as Middleton got five kills and four blocks. Nick Mandelis added four kills as, for Oswego, Matt See (12 kills), Zack Eastman (10 kills) and Jason Proud (25 assists) led the effort. J-D and F-M would square off again on Monday night.
