In very similar manners, and against the same opponent, the girls and boys volleyball teams from Baldwinsville made it back to the Wednesday-night twin bill that will determine a pair of Section III championships.
It started last Wednesday night, when the boys volleyball Bees, with the no. 2 seed, got pushed into a tense, close match with no. 3 seed Fayetteville-Manlius, getting just the right points at just the right times to prevail in four sets.
B’ville and F-M had met twice early in the regular season five days apart, and the Bees won both matches in five sets, so it only figured that this match would be close, too.
F-M, in fact, struck first by winning the opening set by a 26-24 margin. Two points from a 2-0 deficit, B’ville rescued the second set 27-25. Then, in each of the next two sets, both sides had lots of chances to get away, but it was the Bees getting the points at the end to win them by equal 25-23 margins.
On B’ville’s side, David Abraham produced 47 assists, whileDavid Cerqua got 16 digs and three assists. Moving to the front, Riley Shanon and Tyler Aiello each produced 15 kills and Aiello added eight digs. Max Thurson put together five kills and three blocks.
Giving the front line some further depth, Nate Johns had seven kills and Ryan Carson contributed six kills, Dan Cerqua had seven digs and three kills.
For the Hornets, Ryan Boshart and Jacob Rhea both earned 14 kills, with Boshart adding five digs and four blocks and Rhea getting two blocks and two assists. Cade Collum got eight kills as Chris Perry finished with 35 assists and six cigs. Jack Fuller had four kills and three digs as Jack Grifo contributed three kills.
Cicero-North Syracuse swept Central Square in the other semifinal, setting up yet another title match between the Bees and Northstars on C-NS’s home court.
Then, on Thursday night, the B’ville and F-M girls volleyball teams gathered at Baker High school, where the hosts endured a mid-match struggle before taking charge and working past the Hornets in four sets.
At first, it was fairly normal, B’ville claiming the first set 25-18, but even there F-M, despite a 7-9 record and two regular-season losses to the Bees, showed that it wasn’t intimidated, further making that point by getting out in front in the second set and hanging on to prevail 25-22 to make it one set apiece.
It was just the second time all season the Bees had dropped a set in any match against a Section III foe, but it regained form in the third set, prevailing 25-16, and won by that same margin in the fourth set to close out the match.
The good times didn’t last for F-M, though, as the Bees, through a series of well-timed runs, claimed the third set 25-16 and the fourth set by that same margin to advance to the sectional final against West Genesee.
Maddie Stone gathered up 32 assists, six kills and six digs. Many of Stone’s passes went to Michelle Voyer, who put away 17 kills. Kiannah Titus (eight kills), Maddie Stone (six kills) and Katie Welcher (five kills) helped out on the front line.
Titus also had three aces, three assists, two blocks and seven digs as Skyler Parrow-Strong and Rileigh Kimball each had two aces and Kristen Liu earned four blocks.
Paige Hulbert led the Hornets with 17 kills and 10 digs, plus two blocks. Saara Vahtola put together 10 kills, four digs and 11 aces, while Jessica Burhle earned eight kills and, defensively, Jillian Avery (eight digs) and Ellen Burhle (seven digs) helped out.
In the girls sectional Class AA final, B’ville would face West Genesee, who swept past Liverpool in three sets in its semifinal. The Bees won each of its two regular-season meetings with the Wildcats in three sets, including the one that gave head coach Mary Jo Cerqua her 500th win on Oct. 4.
