In a Route 5 battle Wednesday night, the Chittenango boys volleyball team came out on top, needing five games to get past the Canastota Raiders at the heart of a very busy week of local net action.
Steady performances in the first two games allowed the Bears to prevail 25-18 and 25-20. Canastota nearly got swept, but did take the third game 25-23 before falling to Chittenango 25-14 in the fourth game.
Caleb Mannix led the Bears with 11 kills and eight aces. Tom Connelly had nine kills, while Luke Greiner put together 19 assists and five kills, and Corey Rivet added 12 assists. As for Canastota, Charlie Smith had 10 assists, with Jake LaBarre earning five kills and Jason Quaglia four kills.
Chittenango lost to Living Word Academy 25-15, 25-12, 25-11 the night before, as Connelly got three blocks and Nils Belting earned three kills. Isaac Virag led the Lions with 14 assists, nine kills and eight aces.
Vernon Verona Sherrill resumed action on Thursday night, sweeping J-D by scores of 25-11, 25-22 and 25-21. Rested and refreshed, the Red Devils took charge early, then survived the closer games by getting all the clutch points.
Cole Barbano led VVS with 15 assists, feeding a front line where Tyler Curtis got seven kills, Drew Foster five kills and Josh Masi four kills. Andrew Aurigema had 11 digs and Jake Voelker added 10 digs, with Kyle Renwick earning five digs.
Then VVS got its shot at Canastota Friday, sweeping the Raiders 25-20, 25-21, 25-18. Curtis and Masi each finished with six kills, as Masi added four blocks and Barbano fed them with 15 assists. The Raiders saw Smith earn nine assists as Wilke earned nine digs.
Prior to that, Canastota found success in last Tuesday’s match against Ilion, putting together a 25-18, 27-25, 25-17 sweep of the Golden Bombers.
Only the second game proved difficult, as Smith finished with 14 assists, three digs and five aces on the Raiders’ behalf. Dan Avery had eight kills and five digs, while Jamie Meade earned four aces, six digs and three kills. LaBarre had four aces, three digs and three kills.
The Raiders lost in four games Thursday to Mount Markham 25-13, 18-25, 25-8, 25-16. LaBarre had eight kills, eight digs and four blocks, with Marvin Wilke earning 14 digs and Avery picking up seven digs. Jamie Meade had six digs.
Oneida returned on Wednesday, dropping a five-game battle to Jamesville-DeWitt. The Indians won the first game 27-25, only to have the Red Rams take the next two games 25-16 and 25-14.
Though it dominated the fourth game 25-13, Oneida could not transfer that energy to the final game, where J-D went out in front and stayed there in a 25-17 decision.
Shawn Ano, in defeat, had 12 kills, seven digs, five aces and four blocks, with Sam Adams contributing seven kills, 10 digs, five blocks and three aces. Travis Morrison also had seven kills as Neil Parry earned 15 assists.
On Thursday night, the Indians fell in three games to Living Word 25-9, 25-19, 25-22 despite Ano’s eight kills and three blocks. Matt Bonville had six assists.
But the Indians beat Oriskany Friday in four games 25-20, 25-21, 25-27, 25-16. Morrison stepped up, earning 13 kills, as McCarthy got five kills. On the back line, Bonville had 18 assists, six digs and four kills as Peter Jones played terrific defense, earning 23 digs.