A set of Section III championship matches awaited the area’s girls and boys volleyball teams, though several of them had to negotiate their way through tough semifinal matches to get there.
Of the three girls team s that took the floor Thursday night in three different semifinal rounds, only Jamesville-DeWitt made it through, the Class A top seed rolling past no. 4 seed Central Square 25-16, 25-16, 25-12 to earn a spot in the finals.
The Red Rams (13-2) never let the Redhawks get going, with Eva Dougherty setting the tone thanks to her 26 assists and five digs as Teresa Werbowsky produced a team-best seven digs to lead the defense.
Meanwhile, Alex Frank and Melissa Murphy earned nine kills apiece, Frank adding six aces, five digs and two assists. Alexandria Payne produced seven kills and four blocks, while Maddison Newman had four kills and four digs. Joanna Butler had three kills and two blocks.
Up in Class AA, Fayetteville-Manlius held the no. 3 seed, but ran smack into no. 2 seed Liverpool in Thursday night’s semifinal and lost in three sets, only keeping the third set close in a 25-9, 25-12, 26-24 defeat.
Despite the loss, Markayla Madill still had 21 assists and seven digs, helped on the back line by Marissa Madill, who had 18 digs. Saara Vahtola put together nine kills and 10 digs as Paige Hulbert got seven kills, Annika Knutsen five digs and Alexandra Buhrle three kills.
Liverpool’s Julia Flohr had 28 assists, feeding it to Julia Mumpton (12 kills, four blocks) and Karlie King (10 kills) on the Warriors’ front line.
With the no. 2 seed in Class D, Bishop Grimes took a 10-7 record into the sectional tournament and hosted no. 2 seed Living Word Academy, a team it lost to in four sets just one week earlier, on Oct. 27.
Here, the exact same thing happened, with the Cobras claiming the first set 25-22, but unable to sustain that momentum as the Lions roared through the second set 25-13 and then won the next two sets by 25-19 and 25-18 margins to advance to the finals against top seed LaFayette.
Veronica Ansbrow, who had led Grimes all season, did so again by earning 19 assists, seven kills and seven digs. Alivia Spaulding earned eight kills, with Kendall Mancuso getting five kills, three assists and seven digs.
Meghan Vonden Steinen put up nine digs and four kills, with Maria Canzano also getting nine digs and Jeanye Dinsmore adding five digs as Bri Squier and Sammy Houck had three kills apiece. Living Word’s Phoebe Ariola had 31 assists and passed it to Olivia Michael, who got 22 kills. Rosa Geremia had 16 digs.
On the boys side, since Jamesville-DeWitt was in Division II, it automatically moved ahead to Wednesday night’s final at Onondaga Community College against Oswego, since those were the only fall teams playing on the Division II side.
Fayetteville-Manlius, on the other hand, did have to get through a semifinal, the no. 3 seed Hornets visiting no. 2 seed Baldwinsville last Wednesday night, trying to replicate the success it had when it beat the Bees in five sets on that same Baker High School court on Sept. 17.
It did not happen, though. B’ville, who won the other regular-season meeting at F-M on Oct. 13, controlled the opening set 25-17, and though each of the next two sets proved close and tense, F-M could not grab either of them, the Bees prevailing 25-22 and 25-23 in the third to advance to Tuesday night’s finals against Cicero-North Syracuse on the Northstars’ home floor.
Chris Perry earned 16 assists, with Nick Bates adding 12 assists and Jehad Zatar contributing 13 digs on the back line.
Up front, Sam Stauffer led with nine kills, just ahead of Jacob Rhea’s total of seven kills as Ryan Boshart added five kills. John Assenza, who got seven blocks, and Jack Fuller had four kills apiece. For B’ville, Ryan Gellhad 17 kills and Dan Shorney contributed 26 assists.
