It’s difficult to win any contest when you’re not in front.

And the Baldwinsville boys volleyball team didn’t take any kind of lead against Cicero-North Syracuse in Wednesday night’s Section III Division I championship match until the third set – by which it point it proved too late to catch the Northstars, who eventually prevailed in three sets.

These two sides had met twice in the regular season, and while B’ville gave tremendous efforts on both occasions, C-NS won them both in straight sets. It would require quite a turnaround to record an upset in the sectional final, especially when it was played on the Northstars’ home court.

With so much knowledge of each other, it wasn’t too surprising to see the first set evolved into a close battle where the two sides tied each other six times by the midway point.

Every one of those times it had a chance to go in front, though, B’ville could not do so, and the Northstars used four consecutive points, including a Justin Kegebein ace, to go in front for good. The Bees stayed close and even got back within one, 19-18, but C-NS pulled out a 25-21 decision.

Getting off to a quick start in the second set, the Northstars went up 5-1 and, again, B’ville tried to chase them down without success. Even when it closed the gap to two, 19-17, the Bees were thwarted when C-NS closed with six straight points and won it, 25-17.

Only in the third set did the Bees get an advantage, rallying from 4-1 down to go in front 7-6. It would also lead 9-8 and 10-9, but never by more than one point, and then C-NS notched three straight points and took off on an 11-3 run. Josh Bigford’s kill at match point closed out the match at 25-18.

Riley Shannon still finished with 10 kills to lead B’ville’s front line, with Tyler Aiello adding three kills and Ryan Carson two kills. On the back line, David Abraham recorded 17 assists and David Cerqua contributed eight digs as Shannon and Dan Cerqua both got four digs.

For C-NS, Connor Millias was superb throughout the match, earning 33 assists, four blocks and four digs. Bigford finished with 11 kills, adding five digs. Trevor Caviness and Robert Patzer each got eight kills, with Patzer adding six digs and Trent Caviness eight digs. Kegebein gained five kills and David Delaney added five kills.

B’ville finished its season with an 11-6 record and will see seven seniors graduate, including Abraham, Shannon, Carson, David Cerqua, Max Thurston, Ryan Shirk and Kyle Robinson. Ailello, Dan Cerqua and Nate Johns leading the returning cast for 2017.