To cap off a busy September, the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team welcomed 27 other teams to Baker High School last Saturday for the annual Fall Swing Tournament.
It was the largest field in the tournament’s history, with 28 teams on hand, split up into seven divisions. The top seven finishers, plus one Wild Card, advanced to the Gold Division, with the others put in Silver, Bronze and Diamond divisions.
B’ville won its pool over Pittsford Mendon, Marcellus and South Glens Falls and, as the no. 4 seed in the Gold Bracket, got a satisfying quarterfinal win over Shenendehowa, against whom it had lost a string of Class AA regional finals in recent state tournaments.
But in the semifinals, the Bees lost to the same Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake team it beat in the Spartans’ own tournament on Sept. 7. Burnt Hills went on to defeat Victor for the Gold division title.
In the other divisions, Fayetteville-Manlius topped Gates-Chili to win the Silver bracket, reigning state Class B champion Westhill edged Jamesville-DeWitt in the Bronze bracket and Windsor beat Marcellus in the Diamond final.
Back on Monday, B’ville hosted Cicero-North Syracuse in a clash for first place in the SCAC Metro division, with both teams entering the match sporting 5-0 league marks.
The Northstars did stand up well as the Bees claimed each of the first two sets by modest 25-19 margins and then lost the third set, 25-20, before rebounding to earn yet another 25-19 win in the fourth set to close out the match.
Rileigh Kimball dominated at the net for the Bees, putting away a career-best 27 kills to go with 10 digs and six aces, with help from Sophia Kordas, who had nine kills and nine digs, and Kyrah Wilbur, who had seven kills and three blocks.
Jenna Garvey earned 32 assists, helped by Summer McClintic, who got 15 assists, four kills and 11 digs. Brooke Clute led the defensive effort, earning 14 digs,
For C-NS, Jennifer Carl put together 24 assists and eight digs, with Hannah Mingle playing strong defense and earning 28 digs. Brooke Segars earned nine kills and got 14 digs as McKenna Johnston earned five kills and Aurora Lesinski had four kills.
B’ville would rest many of its top players for Wednesday night’s match with Nottingham and nearly drop the first set, but held on to win it 26-24 before pounding the Bulldogs in each of the next two sets by equal 25-11 margins.
McClintic gained 11 assists and three aces, while Garvey added seven assists and four aces. On a balanced front line, Taylor LaPage earned five kills, while Katie Naprawa got four kills. Megan Brecht, Margaret Dec and Emma LeGault had three kills apiece.
In boys volleyball, Baldwinsville stumbled in last Tuesday’s match at Jamesville-DeWitt, where a close 26-24 first-set defeat proved costly.
The Bees also lost the second set 25-17 and, while it pulled out the third set 25-22, the Red Rams held them off 25-23 in the fourth set to win it as Matt Cieplicki had 16 kills and Brevin Scullion earned 25 assists.
On B’ville’s side, Aidan Priest and Bradford Doubleday each produced 12 kills and 10 digs, with Carter Healey gaining 30 assists. John Morrissey had six digs and Ben Stisser added four blocks.
Up against Liverpool Thursday night, the Bees expected to remain in control of this local rivalry, and won the first set 25-19, only to have the Warriors pull out the second set 26-24 and take the third 25-19.
Two points from defeat, B’ville did get the fourth set 26-14 and, in a final-set race to 15 with a two-point margin, was tied, 14-14, but Liverpool earned the serve and closed out the match 16-14.
Healey set a career mark with 53 assists, with the passes often going to Priest, who had 22 kills and 11 digs. Curtiss Hey had nine kills, with Adam Lobdell adding six kills and seven digs as Stisser got four kills and John Morrissey had four digs.
Anthony Pezzino led Liverpool with 12 kills and nine digs, while Elliott DeForge had seven kills. Jeremy LaManche gained six kills and Aidan Shoemaker had five kills. Working the back line, Quinn Moore finished with 31 assists and Jagger Alberici gained 20 digs.
