Though it had long established itself as Section III Division I’s top side, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls volleyball team still wanted to reinforce that point.

Such was the build-up to last Thursday’s home match against Baldwinsville, and just like their first meeting on Sept. 27 at Baker High School, it only lasted three sets before the Northstars prevailed.

Here, each of the first two sets went 25-16 in the Northstars’ favor. To its credit, B’ville dragged the third set beyond the wire, but again C-NS got the best of it, prevailing 28-26 to close out the match.

C-NS got near-perfect balance from its front line as three different players – Justin Kegebein, Josh Bigford and Trevor Caviness – delivered 11 kills apiece, helped by Josh Cloute (six kills) and Robert Patzer (five kills) as Connor Millias amassed 43 assists and 10 digs.

On B’ville’s side, Riley Shanon still managed 10 kills and Tyler Aiello earned nine kills, with Ryan Carson contributing four kills. David Abraham’s passes led to 24 assists as he also earned six digs, not far from David Cerqua’s total of nine digs as Carson got three digs.

In the lead-up to its match with Baldwinsville, C-NS, rebounding from its first defeat of the season to Canisius (Buffalo) on Oct. 15, earned a three-set sweep at Oswego last Monday night.

After winning the first set 25-16, the Northstars had to battle through a long second set, but pulled it out, 29-27, going on to beat the Buccaneers 27-20 in the final set.

Another sweep followed on Wednesday, against Jamesville-DeWitt, as C-NS this time battled the most in the first set, but after that 25-22 decision went on to claim the next two sets by more comfortable 25-19 and 25-14 margins.

Millias picked up 28 assists, adding four kills, while Tristen Cummings had six assists and three digs. Patzer, with eight kills, led a well-balanced front line where Bigford earned seven kills and Kegebein five kills. Kyle Alberici, Dylan Gesser and Jake Den Bleyker had three kills apiece as, all told, 12 different players recorded at least one kill before the match was done.

Just as C-NS was taking apart B’ville again, Liverpool’s boys volleyball team returned to action and beat the combined Syracuse City team, only struggling through the third set in a 25-16, 25-15, 25-23 sweep.

Frank Constentino finished with 18 assists and three aces, spreading his passes around to eight different players that earned kills, none more than Brendan Lee’s four-kill output. Cooper Chaffee, Connor Jones and Trevor Morrow had three kills apiece as Will Karns contributed five digs.

The Liverpool girls volleyball team was hard at work, too, with the Warriors hosting Henninger last Tuesday and making Senior Night a successful one, routing the Black Knights 25-9 in each of the first two sets before claiming the third set 25-17.

Caitlyn Metrick contributed 21 assists, six aces and five kills by night’s end, with Sophia Vangelov adding four assists. Up front, Karlie King got eight kills, adding four aces and five digs, while Abby Anderson and Mia Latifagic each got seven kills. Tori Bedelak finished with three kills.

A much tougher match loomed on Thursday in Camillus, as Liverpool looked to get even for a Sept. 28 home defeat to West Genesee – and did so, earning its best win of the season to date when it edged the Wildcats in five sets to improve its record to 9-4.

After winning the first set 25-18, the Warriors lost the next two sets 25-16 and 25-22, but the close nature of the third set provided some optimism and, in the fourth set, Liverpool tied it by a 25-21 margin before beating WG by that same margin in the final set.

Through it all, Metrick had 14 kills, 10 assists, four aces, five blocks and six digs, while Vangelov earned 30 assists, adding six digs and three kills.

King had her own double-double of 13 kills and 11 digs, with Anna Salamino also getting 11 digs. Lee Keeling had six kills and six digs as Anderson got eight assists and Madison Lapointe earned five kills, six blocks, five digs and two aces. Katie Boak contributed eight digs.

In between these matches, Cicero-North Syracuse played Wednesday and beat Nottingham before running into the top Class A side, Jamesville-DeWitt, on Thursday and taking a 25-23, 25-11, 25-20 defeat to the Red Rams.

Jessica Barry had 10 assists and six kills for the Northstars, while Sharlene Richards earned nine assists. Olivia Salvador and Savannah Ciciarelli got eight digs apiece and Olivia Johnson added seven digs, also matching Madelyn Murray’s total of four kills. Ciciarelli had three kills and Kim Barry four digs.