Cicero — With their red-clad partisans growing in volume and belief, the Baldwinsville boys volleyball team moved in front of Cicero-North Syracuse early in the third set of Tuesday night’s Section III Division I final, played on the Northstars’ home court.
Swept twice by C-NS in the regular season, the Bees were turning things around, having pulled even with the Northstars in a hard-fought second set after dropping the opener, and one more surge may have broken the will of the favored top seeds.
That did not happen, though. Instead, steady play from the Northstars, combined with some well-timed good fortune, led to a four-set defeat as B’ville was unable to defend the sectional crown it earned in 2014.
Still, the effort was inspiring, especially given what had taken place in those regular-season meetings on Sept. 29 and Oct. 22. In both instances, C-NS utilized its deep group of front-line players in a manner that B’ville could not match.
Yet both sides figured that the sectional final would prove a closer match, and they were right. In fact, it was 9-9, with eight ties, in the opening set when the Northstars used an early time-out.
That proved pivotal, since C-NS got four straight points after that time-out, and though the Bees pulled back within one, 15-14, it couldn’t catch up, the Northstars claiming it 25-19.
B’ville made sure this wouldn’t be a sweep, though. It jumped out 7-1 in the first set, and didn’t panic when C-NS roared back and took leads of 11-10 and 19-18. With the score tied 20-20, the Bees pulled off three consecutive points, and that accounted for the final 25-22 margin that evened the match at one set apiece.
Carrying that momentum into the third set, B’ville seized a 12-8 lead. Answering on Luke Barnell’s serve, the Northstars reeled off six straight points, only to have the Bees answer that surge and push it back to a 17-17 tie.
continued — With the tension building and the noise in the C-NS gym growing, the Northstars got three big points in a row to go back in front 20-17, and didn’t get caught, winning that crucial third set 25-21.
Moving to the fourth set, they were again tied, 13-13, when C-NS”s Robert Patzer reeled off three decisive serves. Two bounced off B’ville’s players and hit the ceiling, ending the point, and the last one caught the back line for an ace. Never trailing again, the Northstars closed out the match 25-20.
Despite the loss, B’ville’s Dan Shorney had one of his best performances, piling up 41 assists, an average of better than 10 assists per set. David Cerqua again led the defense, earning 10 digs to go with a pair of assists.
Up front, Ryan Gell set the Bees’ pace with 15 kills. Nick Walker contributed 10 kills, while Alex Brummer managed nine kills. Liam Wicks, with six kills, and Cole Patnode, with five kills, added further depth.
For C-NS, Barnell put away 16 kills and added six digs as Josh Bigford added 11 kills. Patzer, Robert Hoke and Reed Jones had five kills apiece. Connor Millias anchored the C-NS attack, earning 43 assists, while Jordan Caviness earned 17 digs.
B’ville finished its season with a 14-5 record, and three of those defeats were to C-NS. Gell, Shorney, Wicks, Brummer, Walker and Patnode all graduate, leaving a lot of work for Cerqua and his returning teammates to do in 2016.
