On consecutive nights, Baldwinsville’s pair of volleyball teams assured that there would be a large and loud presence of fans in red at next Wednesday’s pair of Section III Class AA championship matches at Cicero-North Syracuse.
Going first, the no. 2 seed boys volleyball Bees welcomed no. 3 seed Fayetteville-Manlius to the Baker High School gym for Thursday night’s AA semifinal.
Right away, B’ville grabbed control, winning the opening set 25-20, and followed that up with a 25-11 romp through the second set. Though F-M played better in the third set, the Bees still put the match away by a 25-21 margin.
Chris Drain averaged more than nine assists per set and finished with 28 assists overall, plus a pair of aces. Shawn Calnan led the front line, posting 13 kills, while Grady Schmidt got seven kills, Kevin Drain earned six kills and Tom Ancilotti banked four kills. Zach Leo contributed three digs.
As this went on, top seed Oswego swept C-NS 28-26, 25-18, 25-20, setting up the final between the Bees and Buccaneers. B’ville won their last meeting in five sets on Oct. 3.
A night later, the undefeated girls volleyball Bees took its turn, and smashed no. 4 seed Liverpool in three sets in its Class AA semifinal to set up a title match against no. 2 seed Fayetteville-Manlius, who swept Cicero-North Syracuse in its semifinal on Thursday.
It was yet another strong, efficient effort from the Bees, who took the first and third sets by scores of 25-18 and, in between, roared to a 25-14 victory over Liverpool in the second set.
Allegra Lee Bell finished with five kills, leading her side as four others – Madison Whitney, Melissa Voyer, Lexi Lagoy and Sarah Herman – earned three kills apiece. Maureen Thayer supplied the passes, earning 17 assists, while Danielle Sayler finished with three aces and five digs.
