True, the Baldwinsville boys volleyball team has closed some of the gap with Class AA championship front-runner Oswego – but not all of it.

The Bees dropped Monday’s encounter with the Buccaneers in four sets, marking a slight improvement from their first meeting on Sept. 21, where Oswego marched into the Baker High School gym and prevailed in straight sets.

In this rematch at Oswego, the Bees, who had swept five straight matches since the initial encounter, had to watch as the Bucs honored seven players on Senior Night.

Maybe those festitivies distracted Oswego a bit, for B’ville pulled out the first set 25-21, briefly raising hopes for the visiting side.

In the second set, though, the Bucs pounded the Bees 25-12. The third set proved pivotal, as both sides traded scoring runs before Oswego got the late points that counted, pulling it out 25-23 to take a 2-1 lead in sets.

From there, the Bucs comfortably prevailed 25-17 in the fourth set as senior Kevin Carpentier recorded 31 assists. Fellow senior Mike Thompson chimed in with 17 kills, 10 digs and nine blocks, while yet another senior, Ryan Patrick, had 14 digs and four kills.