Maybe some more important victories are up ahead for the Cicero-North Syracuse boys volleyball team, but none might prove more exciting than last Tuesday night’s rally from a two-set deficit to beat Oswego in five sets.
Though the Northstars had topped the Buccaneers back on Sept. 13, it took four sets, and Oswego, who went on to win its next seven in a row, emerged from that match with a belief that it could do better when the two sides met again.
The first two sets bore this out. With a home crowd to back them, the Bucs traded points with C-NS in each of those sets, and at the critical moments gained serve to pull them out by narrow 26-24 and 27-25 margins.
Facing its biggest challenge against a local opponent this fall, the Northstars claimed the third set 25-21. Then an epic fourth set followed, with Oswego getting numerous chances to close out the match but not able to do so.
Finally, at 29-29, C-NS gained the serve and kept it to win, 31-29, forcing a fifth-set race to 15 points. With all of the momentum, the Northstars won that final set 15-10.
Through it all, Tristen Cummings came up with 42 assists, adding eight kills and four blocks. Up front, Josh Bigford put away 27 kills, with Louis D’Agostino getting nine kills as Kyle Alberici and Trent Caviness each got eight kills, Caviness adding seven assists. Dylan Gesser had eight digs.
For the Bucs, Jason Proud managed 46 assists, his passes often going to Kyle Kon, who had 20 kills and five aces, and Zach Crossman, who got 17 kills. Noah Davis and Derek Fitzsimmons had six kills apiece as Fitzsimmons added six blocks.
It was easier for C-NS in Thursday’s 25-8, 25-7, 25-16 sweep over Syracuse City. Bigford got 13 kills, with Caviness contributing 20 assists and four aces. Alberici and Aidan Longley had three kills apiece.
The C-NS girls volleyball team got a big win that same night, defeating West Genesee as it tore through the first set 25-6 and, after losing the second set 25-21, pulled out close 27-25 and 25-23 victories in the next two sets to put away the Wildcats.
Kaylin VanAuken emerged with 23 assists and eight digs to help Kim Barry on the back line as Barry finished with 18 assists, seven kills and four digs. Olivia Salvador added 19 digs as Olivia Johnson earned 12 kills, with Madelyn Murray adding nine kills. Brooke Nicolaos had seven kills, nine digs and four aces. Grace Nicolini also had seven kills.
This followed Tuesday’s 25-12, 25-8, 25-9 sweep of Corcoran where C-NS got seven aces from VanAuken and six aces from Murray, plus five kills. VanAuken had 11 assists and Barry eight assists as Johnson put away a team-best 11 kills.
The second girls volleyball match between Liverpool and Baldwinsville on Oct. 6 did not go the way the first one did a few weeks earlier.
In that initial meeting, the Warriors earned a set against the Bees, perhaps establishing within itself a belief that it could at least keep up with the Class AA dynasty up the road.
Yet the rematch at Liverpool took a different turn, the Warriors nearly winning the first set, but B’ville taking it 27-25 on the way to a 25-11 romp in the second set and a 25-20 victory in the third.
Sophie Vangelov had 10 assists and Sydney Caviness had five assists, with Toria Betelak recording six kills ahead of Madison Lapoint (four kills) and Hayley Feldt (three kills) as Ashley Teixeira had 15 digs and Lapoint added eight digs.
On B’ville’s side, Sophia Cronk (14 kills), Rileigh Kimball (11 kills) and Katie Welcher (nine kills) shared the front-line duties as Maddie Stone fed them with 40 assists and Summer McClintic got 11 digs.
Liverpool bounced back in last Tuesday’s tough five-set win over Fayetteville-Manlius, winning the first two sets 25-18 and 25-20, only to drop the next two sets 25-22 and 25-19 before pulling away 25-13 in the final set.
Leahana Keeling had 12 kills, with Betelak getting nine kills and 10 blocks. Lapoint had six kills as Vangelov got five kills to go with 21 assists. Caviness added 12 assists as Teixeira (15 digs) got defensive help from Makenzie Stonebarger, who had 12 digs. F-M’s Erianna Madill had 45 assists, passing it to Paige Hulbert, who had 29 kills, and Saara Vahtola, who got 21 kills.
Back on Tuesday night, Liverpool’s boys volleyball team lost in three sets to Central Square 25-15, 25-14, 25-18. Vincent Lee had eight assists, with Connor Jones picking up four kills and three blocks as Jagger Alberici earned seven digs. Cooper Colesante led the Redhawks with 24 assists.
