First on the male side, and then on the female side, the Baldwinsville volleyball teams had to move their way past Fayetteville-Manlius to advance to the Section III Class AA championship doubleheader – and did so.
In front of the home fans at the Baker High School gym, the boys Bees, with the no. 2 seed, went first, taking on no. 3 seed F-M last Wednesday night and prevailing in four tight sets.
B’ville had swept the Hornets on Sept. 16 and then won a four-set decision on Oct. 7 in their regular-season encounters, but the third match proved the best of all.
After pulling out a 25-21 victory in the opening set, B’ville was poised to extend its margin before F-M rose up and, by a 25-23 margin, evened up the match.
They would continue to trade points throughout the third and fourth sets, but both times the Bees were able to inch out in front and stay there, winning the third set 25-22 and the fourth set 25-20 to advance.
With his 37 assists (to go with three kills and two aces), Pat Dubiel fed a well-balanced front line. Jonathan Dunn led with nine kills, while Corey Toscano and Delsean Griffith each had seven kills, Griffith adding five aces and two blocks.
Ryan Gell stepped up with five kills as Mike Bernet and Charles McAllister earned four kills apiece and Tyler Weber finished with 12 digs. F-M, in defeat, saw Louis Avellino pick up 24 kills and Sam Stauffer add 13 kills in front of Mike Boshart, who earned 41 assists.
As B’ville’s boys prepared for a sectional final at Cicero-North Syracuse against top seed Oswego, with whom it split a pair of five-set classics on Sept. 12 (lost) and Oct. 2 (won), the undefeated girls Bees completed two weeks of rest and preparation for their Class AA semifinal Friday night against no. 4 seed F-M, who ousted C-NS in the opening round.
Then, in the span of an hour, it was over, B’ville sharp and relentless as it carved up the Hornets in yet another sweep, winning the opening set 25-7, the second set 25-12 and the third set 25-8.
Lexi Lagoy led the Bees’ attack with 10 kills, adding five digs. Rachel Aiello and Madison Whitney each had seven kills, with Aiello adding two aces and two digs, while Melissa Voyer picked up five kills and Amanda May had three kills.
Meghann Smith fed all of them with 35 assists, an average of more than 12 assists per set, with Caryn Salce picking up a team-best four aces, plus four digs.
So in the opening act of Wednesday night’s AA finals twin bill at Cicero-Nort Syracuse (which starts at 6 p.m.), B’ville’s girls will face no. 3 seed West Genesee, who avenged two regular-season defeats to Liverpool by knocking off the no. 2 seed Warriors in the other semifinal match.
A win there puts the Bees into the regional final against the Section II champions next weekend, while the B’ville boys, should it topple Oswego, would also face the Section II survivor on Friday, needing two regional wins to reach the state finals Nov. 15 at Glens Falls Civic Center.
