All that the Chittenango girls volleyball team had done during its eight-game win streak would get put to the test Friday night in an Onondaga High School League first-place showdown with the unbeaten Tully Black Knights.
And the Bears would fall in four sets, but not without putting up a big fight and showing that its strong work in December was far from a fluke.
Each of the first two sets was a tight, back-and-forth affair. Both Chittenango and Tully had chances to put away the set, but each time failed until the Black Knights broke 25-25 ties and got the set points to win each of those sets by 27-25 margins.
Burned by this, the Bears roared through the third set 25-13, but ran out of momentum in the fourth set long enough for Tully to pull together and, by a 25-18 margin, close out the match.
Corrin Stelakis still managed 16 kills for Chittenango, with Allie Cerio (16 assists) and Hannah Bailey (10 assists) passing it to her. Defensively, Ashley Young, with 18 digs, and Emily Wood, with 17 digs, led the way, though Cerio (eight digs), Lauren Malloy (11 digs) and Mackenzie Stevens (10 digs) were close behind.
Tully’s attack revolved around Grace Chaffee, who put away 40 assists, an average of 10 assists per set. Chaffee’s passes went to Maureen Whitney (12 kills), Lydia Guy (10 kills), Jenna Bailey, Sara Reppenhagen (seven kills each), Lexi Hamilton and Hannah Leva (six kills each),
Just before that, the Bears tuned up by visiting Syracuse Academy of Science last Tuesday night and rolling to a 25-8, 25-10, 25-15 sweep over the Atoms.
Ali Cerio set the tone, putting away 13 aces, nearly half a set’s points all by itself, and adding five assists. Hannah Bailey produced nine assists and two aces. Emily Wood had five kills, while Angela Arno got three aces and Mackenzie Stevens managed three kills.
While that went on, Chittenango’s boys volleyball team, second to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in the “Spiking In the New Year” Tournament on Dec. 30, began its regular-season slate with a fair amount of success.
The Bears swept past Sauquoit Valley last Tuesday night in a 25-11, 25-16, 25-14 decision. In control from start to finish, Chittenango got a big effort from Tyler Howard, who put together 19 assists and seven kills.
Helping Howard, Brad Markowski also had seven kills, plus four digs. Zane Garvey had seven digs, three aces and two kills, with Kyle Brazell adding six kills. Connor Martin got five kills as Seamus St. Ledger had four assists, three kills and two blocks. Jeremiah Burns managed five digs.
Two nights later, the Bears swept Mount Markham 25-21, 25-15, 25-19. This time around, Howard hurt the Mustangs with 16 assists, five kills, three aces and four digs, while St. Ledger had eight assists, five kills and three blocks.
Garvey, with six kills, led a well-balanced front line where Markowski joined Howard and St. Ledger with five kills, with Jeremiah Burns and Robert Burns each earning four kills. Brazell, who had 10 digs, and Garvey, with eight digs, excelled on the defensive side.
Making it 3-0 on Saturday afternoon, Chittenango rolled past Herkimer 25-17, 25-10, 25-15. Eleven different players had at least one kill, with Markowski and Garvey each getting six kills to lead the way. Howard produced 10 assists and St. Ledger contributed seven assists.
