If the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team was searching for motivation, what transpired during the Sept. 30 Fall Fling Tournament at Baker High School provided it.
The undefeated Bees did not even make it out of the semifinals of the tournament’s Gold Division, stopped by Shenendehowa, the same Section II powerhouse that ended B’ville’s season in the regional round each of the last two Novembers.
Whoever was next on the Bees’ schedule was going to pay for this, and it just happened to be West Genesee, who showed up last Tuesday night and got pounded by a steady B’ville effort that included a 25-14 win in the first set and 25-15 wins in each of the next two sets.
On the back line, setter Maddie Stone earned 26 assists, with libero Summer McClintic gathering 23 digs. Katie Welcher, with nine kills, led a front line where Rileigh Kimball had six kills, Kristen Liu five kills and Sophia Cronk four kills, plus three aces. Liu added four blocks as Claire McAllister had six blocks.
The Bees would roll past Corcoran 25-9, 25-7, 25-7 on Thursday night, the tone set by Athena Norton, who put away nine aces as she took a turn as the main setter and earned 19 assists. McClintic had eight kills, with Karen Ekure contributing nine kills as Maggie Weigand gained four aces. Sophia Cronk managed seven assists, with McAllister and Dana Prokop each adding five assists.
Baldwinsville’s boys volleyball team had a second opportunity to challenge reigning Section III champion Cicero-North Syracuse last Wednesday night, this time on its home floor, after getting swept by the Northstars on Sept. 6.
Here, both of the first sets were close, but C-NS pulled them out by scores of 25-23 and 25-21 before taking the third set 25-18. Despite the loss, Dan Cerqua, who has taken over the setter role for the Bees, had 17 assists, with Aidan Priest contributing eight digs.
Nate Johns, with nine kills, paced B’ville’s front line, Davis Weakley adding five kills as Tyler Aiello got four kills and Luc Jerome three kills, each of them contributing a pair of blocks. C-NS hitter Josh Bigford had 15 kills as Tristen Cummings contributed 18 assists.
Two nights earlier, against against Jamesville-DeWitt, only the second set proved close in the Bees’ 25-15, 25-22, 25-16 sweep of the Red Rams.
Cerqua managed 30 assists, his passes often going to Aiello, who had 18 kills. Johns had seven kills and four aces as Weakley got four kills and Jerome three kills. Priest picked up 13 digs as Aiello and David Cornell had three aces apiece.
