One mark common among great teams is the ability to withstand injuries or personnel changes and continue to flourish.
Cicero-North Syracuse’s boys volleyball side offers a good example. Having seen a key front-line player go down to injury right before Tuesday night’s clash with Baldwinsville, the Northstars simply plugged in a new piece and still swept the Bees in three sets.
Right before the match started, Justin Kegebein, one of C-NS’s best threats at the net, suffered a severe ankle sprain. Kegebein said it could keep him out for the rest of the regular season, but the Northstars were ready for the emergency.
Warren Hoke stepped into Kegebein’s spot in the rotation, and C-NS, playing B’ville for the first time since falling to the Bees in last year’s Section III final, took over early, never trailing in a 25-15 first-set victory.
The next two sets proved tougher. B’ville led through most of the second set, by as much as four points (13-9), but with its power and terrific defensive work, C-NS caught up at 17-17 and, after an exchange of points, closed on a 5-1 run to win that set 25-21.
Then, in the third set, the two sides went through nine ties before C-NS inched in front 15-14, No matter what the Bees did, the Northstars had an answer as Luke Barnell’s kill on match point finished off another 25-21 victory and the sweep.
Barnell put together 16 kills, nine digs and two blocks, while Hoke impressed with a season-best 10 kills, plus seven digs. Garrett Coleman chimed in with 14 kills and seven digs as Reed Jones and Josh Bigford each had five kills. Feeding them all, Connor Millias piled up 45 assists, to go with eight digs. Jordan Caviness earned 21 digs.
Liverpool finally broke into the win column that same night, defeating Syracuse in four sets. After taking the first two sets 25-14 and 25-19, the Warriors lost the third set 25-22, but dominated the fourth set 25-12 to put the match away.
Andrew Stonebarger served up 10 aces, to go with 22 assists, three kills and two digs. Joe Pirro added 10 digs as Lucas Manganiello earned eight kills and four aces, with Brendan Lee adding seven kills and three aces. Trevor Morrow and Matt Bates had five kills apiece, Bates adding five aces.
