Having nearly claimed a state Division I championship a season ago, the Cicero-North Syracuse boys volleyball team started 2017 in the same role in normally occupies – as the target for all of its local opponents.

The biggest concern for Northstars head coach Michael Lucia was replacing top setter Connor Millias, with Tristen Cummings taking over that main role. But Josh Bigford returns to lead the front line.

This fall in boys volleyball, eight teams –C-NS, Baldwinsville, Liverpool, Central Square, Fayetteville-Manlius, Oswego, Jamesville-DeWitt and Syracuse – are together in the Salt City Athletic Conference, which means there are 14 league matches, two against each opponent.

It just so happened that C-NS and B’ville, who met in the 2016 sectional final, opened against each other last Wednesday night, and Cummings and Bigford were sharp for the Northstars as it took care of the Bees in a 25-17, 25-14, 25-18 sweep.

Bigford finished with 15 kills and also had a team-high eight digs, plus two aces, with Jake Den Bleyker adding five kills. Cummings had 22 assists and six digs. Dylan Gesser added four digs and two aces.

Liverpool also opened its season last Wednesday, but lost to Jamesville-DeWitt 25-18, 25-15, 25-15. Robert Sensei had four assists, with Aiden Shoemaker adding two aces and two kills. The Red Rams got 11 kills from Robert Cieplicki and 12 assists from Liam Kaplan.

Girls volleyball teams had started the week before, and Liverpool had won its opener over Central Square Aug. 28. Now, in its own match against J-D, the Warriors survived two hard-fought sets, winning them 28-26 and 27-25, and prevailed 25-18 in the fourth set after the Red Rams won the third set 25-10.

Madison Lapoint managed 15 kills and four digs. Helping on the front line, Leahana Keeling and Alicia Nash each had six kills, Nash adding four blocks as Toria Betelak got five kills and three blocks. Sydney Caviness earned 26 assists. Ashley Teixeira got eight digs, three assists and two aces. Makenzie Stonebarger contributed seven digs.

Then Liverpool swept Corcoran 25-10, 25-8, 25-13 on Thursday night. Teixeira earned five of her team’s 15 aces as Stonebarger and Betelak both got three aces. Nash had five kills, while Lapoint and Keeling had three kills apiece. Caviness had 13 assists and Sophie Vangelov helped on the back line with six assists.

Back on Tuesday night, the C-NS girls earned its first win of the season, needing just three sets to handle Central Square last Tuesday night, claiming the first two sets by equal 25-12 margins and closing out the Redhawks 25-19 in the third.

Olivia Salvador, with seven aces and seven digs, set the Northstars’ tone. Olivia Johnson had five aces and Grace Nicolini added four aces as Madelyn Murray produced 10 kills. Brooke Nicolaos had four kills. Kim Barry managed 15 assists and three kills, helped on the back line by Kaylin VanAuken, who got seven assists. Emily Overend added three kills and three aces.

Looking to follow up on Thursday night, C-NS hosted Fayetteville-Manlius and won the first set 25-22, also taking the third set 25-16. However, the Hornets rallied both times, claiming the second set 25-16 and the fourth set 25-11, and in a tight final set F-M pulled it out, 25-23.

Through it all, Barry gained 18 assists, 14 digs, five kills, four blocks and three aces. Johnson had 12 kills and 13 digs, while Murray got seven kills and six blocks. VanAuken had five assists as Olivia Salvador amassed 20 digs and Brooke Nicolaos had 14 digs. F-M got 40 assists from Erianna Madill, 20 kills from Paige Hulbert and 15 kills from Saara Vahtola.