A strong start for the Jamesville-DeWitt girls volleyball team continued with last Tuesday night’s win at Marcellus. After claiming the first set 25-18, the Red Rams lost the second set 25-22, only to emerge from close third and fourth sets by 25-21 and 25-22 margins to put away the Mustangs.

Alexandria Payne piled up 26 kills and 15 digs, with Lexie Gambacorto earning 10 kills, 17 digs and three aces. Amy Shen added five kills and 14 digs as Madeline Ferris accumulated 34 assists, adding six kills, five digs and two aces.

Back home Thursday night, J-D handled PSLA-Fowler 25-6, 25-7, 25-10, the effort including 26 aces, 12 of them from Ferris to go with her 15 assists. Gambacorto had five aces as Payne notched four aces, nine kills and five digs. Shen also had four aces as Alexis LeClair got five digs and Fiona McNeil contributed four kills.

That same PSLA-Fowler team took on Bishop Grimes Friday night and watched the Cobras sweep it 25-13, 25-16, 25-9. Audrey Hathaway managed 22 assists, passing it to Bri Squier (10 kills), Raquel McDonald (eight kills) and Kenna Kelly (six kills) as Kendall Mancuso finished with four kills.

Grimes had already beaten Syracuse Academy of Science 25-6, 25-12, 25-13 earlier in the week. The Cobras earned 31 aces, 10 of them from Hathaway to go with 12 assists as Squier got five aces and six kills. Mara Gutchess also had five aces. Mancuso contributed four aces and McDonald had three aces.

As a follow-up, Grimes swept Hamilton 25-10, 25-13, 25-7 on Thursday, wasting little time as Mancuso recorded 11 of the Cobras’ 23 aces. Gutchess added four aces as Hathaway, with nine assists, passed it to McDonald and Kelly, who got four kills apiece. Squier had three aces and three kills.

Fayetteville-Manlius tested itself Thursday against West Genesee, who was coming off a sweep at the hands of Baldwinsville two nights earlier, and the Hornets continued the Wildcats’ slide with a five-set victory.

Even a 25-17 loss in the first set didn’t bother F-M, who rolled through the second set 25-7 and the third set 25-16. WG briefly recovered, winning the fourth set 25-20 to get even, but the Hornets won the final set 25-18.

Up front, Paige Hulbert gained 19 kills, five aces and eight digs, with Saara Vahtola adding 18 kills and six digs. Erianna Madill fed them with 36 assists as Rachel Quilty-Koval got seven digs and four aces. Emma Williams had three kills.

In boys volleyball, Jamesville-DeWitt faced Living Word Academy last Monday night. The Red Rams won the first set 25-20 and, after dropping the second set 25-19, claimed the third set by that same margin.

The Lions got close to taking it to the wire, but J-D pulled it out, 25-23, in the fourth set to clinch the match. Ian Freezman earned 11 kills and Matt Cieplicki earned 10 kills in front of Liam Kaplan, who got 18 assists, and Owen Farchione, who had eight assists, Ryan Evans contributed three digs.

J-D met Syracuse City on Wednesday and claimed the first set 25-15, only to get beat, 25-23, in the second set before reclaiming control in the next two sets by 25-15 and 25-16 margins.

Again, there was balance out front as Cieplicki earned 11 kills, with Nick Mandelis and Tim Skeval getting 10 kills apiece. Kaplan gained 14 assists and Farchione finished with 11 assists. Freezman got four kills. Farchione and Cameron Howe each earned three kills.

On Friday night, J-D took on the biggest challenge of all when it faced Cicero-North Syracuse, the reigning sectional champions and state finalists. The Northstars controlled the first set 25-10, and though the Rams played better in the next two sets, still lost them by margins of 25-18 and 25-22.

Nick Mandelis had six kills, with Cieplicki and Freezman getting four kills apiece. Kaplan had 12 assists and six digs. C-NS got 24 assists and four aces from Tristen Cummings, along with 13 kills from Josh Bigford.

Fayetteville-Manlius met up with Baldwinsville Friday night and twice went in front, yet still lost in five sets to the Bees. The 25-20 first-set win and 25-22 third-set win were both squandered when B’ville took the second set 25-17 and, two points from defeat, pulled out the fourth set 25-23.

The final set, a race to 15, saw the Hornets struggle in a 15-7 defeat. Chris Perry had 35 assists, passing it to Joe Powless (12 kills), Cade Collum (11 kills) and Aaron Costanza (nine kills) as Perry also managed five blocks. Powless finished with nine digs and Costanza got seven digs.