While other wins it picked up this fall meant plenty, none earned by the Liverpool girls volleyball team carried as much weight as last Wednesday night’s conquest of Fayetteville-Manlius.
When the Warriors prevailed in five sets, it gave the Hornets, 11-1 entering the match, just its second defeat of the season, and also avenged a four-set defeat to F-M back on Sept. 21.
To win, Liverpool had to absorb the disappointment of a narrow 25-23 loss in the opening set, rebounding to take the second set 25-21 and handle the third set 25-18.
Even more impressive was the way the Warriors overcame getting beat up 25-9 in the fourth set. In a much closer final set, Liverpool got the crucial points and put away F-M 25-21.
Sydney Caviness earned 41 assists, plus two aces, five digs and two kills, while Morgan Michlovitch had 16 digs and Gianna Pezzino picked up six digs.
Marissa Baskin put away 16 kills, adding four aces and eight digs, with Sarah Ayling earning 11 kills and nine digs. Alicia Nash had eight kills, three blocks and three digs, with Bryanna McRobbie getting four kills and three blocks. Hayley Feidt also had four kills.
Before all this, Liverpool met face-to-face with, arguably, the strongest team in Central New York, its fellow Warriors from Westhill, last Monday night and lost in three sets.
During the 25-18, 25-20, 25-11 decision, Westhill featured Mackenzie Martin, who had 20 assists, six kills and seven digs, while Sara Galante got 13 kills and Sarah Schwartz finished with 11 assists.
On Liverpool’s side, Sydney Caviness managed seven assists as Alicia Nash got four kills, two aces and two blocks. Marissa Baskin had three kills, five digs, two blocks and two aces as Morgan Michlovitch contributed seven digs.
In Friday’s action, Liverpool routed Henninger 25-9 in the first set and 25-7 in the third, with a 25-22 set in between as Caviness had 19 assists and Detota added 10 assists.
Ayling, with seven kills, led a well-balanced front line as Feidt, Baskin and Abigail Rowell had five kills apiece. Michlovitch, who had four kills, picked up 10 digs as Lexi Carfi had nine digs and three aces.
Cicero-North Syracuse faced Nottingham on Wednesday and shut out the Bulldogs 25-7, 25-14, 25-19. Madison Fortin had 12 assists and Kim Barry 10 assists for the Northstars as Emily Overend and Aurora Lesinski had six kills apiece. Brooke Segars added three kills.
It was a tougher match Thursday against West Genesee, but the Northstars completed a regular-season sweep of the Wildcats, handling the first two sets 25-10 and 25-19 and dropping the third 25-23 before an easy 25-13 win in the fourth.
Gracie Gleason had a breakout performance, piling up 17 kills as Segars and Adrianna Houston both managed six kills and four aces.
McKenna LaPorte also got four aces to go with her 17 digs as Segars contributed 11 digs. Fortin had 15 assists and four digs, with Barry managing 14 assists, five digs and three kills.
