With the milestone of coach Mary Jo Cerqua’s 400th win behind them, the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team could focus on the more important matter of getting through the rest of its regular season undefeated..
Prior to last Monday’s match against Liverpool, the Bees had not even surrendered a game. That almost happened here – but B’ville managed another three-game sweep.
Having already won the opener by a big 25-9 margin, the Bees found itself pushed beyond the limit in the second game, only to get the serve back at 25-25, then close out the game 27-25. The third game ended 25-11 in B’ville’s favor.
On the front line, Sydnie Hamm led with eight kills, while Allegra Bell gained six kills. Paulina Rein mixed in five kills, seven digs, three aces and three assists, with Liz Giromini adding four kills and five digs. Brianna Stewart, in addition to her 25 assists, gained seven digs, five kills and three aces.
Then the Bees swept Fowler 25-6, 25-8, 25-6 on Wednesday night as Amanda Chajkowski served up 12 aces and Erica Miller produced 10 aces. Stewart had 12 assists and four aces as Sarah Klaben earned six kills and four aces. Giromini (seven assists) and Emily Walser (four kills) helped, too.
With that, the Bees’ 15-0 regular-season run was complete, and now comes the Class AA playoffs, where B’ville looks not just to repeat its sectional crown, but to set up a run at its first-ever state championship.
On the boys side, all was going well for Baldwinsville as it neared Monday night’s big showdown with Cicero-North Syracuse.
The Bees improved to 11-3 on the season with a hard-fought, four-game victory over Oswego last Monday night. In the first two games, the Bees prevailed by similar margins of 25-20 and 25-19. Then, in the third game, the Buccaneers won 25-20, extending the match, but B’ville came right back and, in fourth game, closed it out by that familiar 25-20 margin.
B’ville then won a non-league match Thursday against Horseheads, prevailing 25-8, 25-19, 25-19. Ryan Shelton had 20 assists, four kills and four aces, with Chris Thayer earning seven kills and two digs. Zack Racha and Jarret Reaume each got five kills, with Dan Dubiel and Matt McKee getting three aces apiece. Kyle Lattanzio and Jake Toscano had matching totals of three kills.
