VVS, Chittenango boys volleyball earn wins

Returning to the court on Thursday night, the Vernon Verona Sherrill boys volleyball team earned a solid road victory at Jamesville-DeWitt, beating the Red Rams in four games.

It didn’t start out smoothly, as J-D took a close opening game 26-24 before the Red Devils got even with a 25-20 win in the second game.

Both the third and fourth games would prove tight, too. In the third, VVS got pushed beyond the wire, but fended off game points and won it 27-25, then followed it up by getting the points late to win the fourth game 25-23.

On the back line, Cole Barbano had 10 assists, while Justin Laboda earned nine assists and Kyle Renwick earned eight digs. Up front, John Masi led with six kills, with Mike Piazza gaining five kills and four blocks, and Aaron Owens earning four kills.

In a Route 5 showdown on the same night, Chittenango beat Oneida in four games. They split the first two games, the Bears prevailing 25-19 in the opener and the Indians claiming the second game 25-23, but Chittenango proved a bit stronger, winning the third game 25-21 and closing out the match 25-20 in the fourth game.

Caleb Mannix and Ryan Smith each had 10 kills on the Bears’ behalf, with Luke Greiner putting together 13 assists and five kills. For Oneida, Shawn Ano piled up 12 kills, seven digs and seven blocks, with Peter Jones picking up 25 digs.

Prior to that, Oneida lost last Monday to Living Word Academy 25-8, 25-16, 25-12. Ano had two kills and two aces, with Matt Bonville earning three assists. For the Lions, Deng Gai had 15 kills and four blocks, with Sam Bender adding 21 assists.

Canastota returned on Tuesday, falling to Westmoreland 25-13, 25-18, 25-17. Charlie Smith led the Raiders with five assists and four digs, with Ryan Peterson earning three blocks and Dan Avery getting three kills and two aces. Trevor McGregor (11 kills, eight digs) and Brandon Jones (18 assists) led the Bulldogs’ winning effort.

Two nights later, the Raiders lost to Little Falls, earning the third game to avoid a sweep, but still falling to the Mounties 25-16, 25-16, 22-25, 25-19. C.J. Melander earned six kills, with Marvin Wilke gaining eight digs. Smith earned six assists, three aces and three digs as Avery earned five kills, four digs and three assists.