When the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team made its short trip to Liverpool Friday night, a small kernel of doubt lingered over the occasion.
After all, the Warriors had pushed the Bees hard in their first head-to-head match at the Baker High School Gym on Sept. 18, and while B’ville ended up prevailing in four sets, some wondered if Liverpool had what it took to get even closer down the road.
Perhaps that will still take place – but on this evening, there wasn’t any doubt. In three emphatic sets, B’ville took down Liverpool, improved to 11-0 on the season and announced to all that, again, it would take something quite special to knock the Bees off its long-held CNY Counties League and Section III Class AA thrones.
Tournament play, both at its own Fall Swing on Sept. 29 and at the John Glenn Invitational on Long Island two weeks later, had sharpened the Bees to a degree that even Liverpool could not match, despite its own string of wins.
In top form from the outset, B’ville pulled away in the first set and won it 25-14. Then it claimed the second set by that exact same score, and while the Warriors inched a bit closer in the third set, the Bees closed out the match 25-19.
On the Bees’ front line, Abby May put away 12 kills, adding four digs. Michelle Voyer finished with nine kills, while Riley Carlucci managed eight kills. Kiannah Titus earned five kills, plus eight digs and two blocks. Morgan Shibel had a team-best three blocks.
Hannah Klaben helped them all out with her 18 assists, tacking on eight digs, two aces and two kills, while Maddie Stone managed 15 assists and four aces. Emily Pascale picked up 13 digs.
For Liverpool, Julia Flohr had 19 assists and 15 digs, but no single player had more than the six kills put up by Julia Mumpton and Amelia Bartier. Lexi McLaggan (five kills) and Karlie King (four kills) were close behind as Sam Wolf earned 13 digs.
Of all the matches the Baldwinsville boys volleyball team had played this season, none had hurt more than its Sept. 17 defeat at home to Fayetteville-Manlius, who rallied from dropping two long sets to beat the Bees in five.
They got together again last Tuesday night at F-M, and the result was far different. Showing top form, B’ville survived a test in the opening set and swept the Hornets in three.
Though not going as far past the point limit as they did the first time around, B’ville and F-M traded scoring runs throughout the opening set. But the difference here was that B’ville’s 25-23 win had long-term ramifications.
More confident than it was a month earlier, B’ville roared through the second set 25-15 and, knowing full well the Hornets’ comeback capabilities, continued to roll in the third set until it won by a 25-20 margin.
Strong up front, the Bees saw Nick Walker produce 13 kills and Ryan Gell add 11 kills, with Alex Brummer and Cole Patrode each finishing with four kills. Meanwhile, on the back line, Dan Shorney earned 28 assists and David Cerqua gained 10 digs.
On F-M’s side, Nick Bates had 17 assists, with Jehad Zatar (nine digs), John Assenza (six kills), Sam Stauffer (five kills, five digs) and Jacob Rhea (four kills) helping out.
B’ville would go on to sweep the combined Syracuse city team Thursday night in a 25-19, 25-14, 25-19 decision, improving to 9-2 with a big home match looming this Thursday against Cicero-North Syracuse after the Bees face Jamesville-DeWitt and Living Word Academy early in the week.
