What has proven true for the last decade remains the case – the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team remains a few steps above all of its Section III Class AA challengers.
The Bees’ 10th consecutive sectional title, gained Tuesday night at Cicero-North Syracuse High School, involved a three-set sweep over Liverpool in a match that had some danger, which quickly passed.
For that, B’ville could thank plenty of players, but perhaps none more than sophomore libero Summer McClintic, who provided far more than her usual defensive prowess.
“Summer was incredibly important to us tonight,” said B’ville head coach Mary Jo Cerqua.
Midway through the first set, when things were still relatively tight, McClintic got the serve and proceeded to pound away at the ball, leading to six consecutive points that broke things open and led to a 25-16 B’ville decision.
Then, during the third set, McClintic was on the service line again as the Bees snuffed out Liverpool’s last hope with a 7-0 run that turned a tight battle into a 25-13 decision.
All told, McClintic had seven aces to go with 11 kills and three digs, and her work on the back line was needed most during a second set that nearly turned the match in Liverpool’s direction.
The Warriors began that set on a 6-2 run. Three different times, B’ville caught up, only to have Liverpool retake the lead. It wasn’t until it got to 20-20 that the Bees earned its first lead of the set, but that didn’t last long, either.
Trailing 23-22, B’ville reclaimed the serve, went out in front 24-23, saw a set point go away, but at 24-24 won back the serve and got the point it needed to win that set 26-24, a blow from which Liverpool could not recover.
Aside from McClintic, B’ville had strong efforts from Maddie Stone, who had 30 assists, and Rileigh Kimball, who paced the front line with 14 kills. Sophia Cronk had eight kills, with Katie Welcher getting five kills, two aces and two blocks as Kristen Liu contributed three kills. Carly May finished with six digs.
On Saturday, the Bees would return to C-NS for yet another Class AA regional final against Section II power Shenendehowa. Though B’ville lost to the Plainsmen each of the last two years in this same round, it did beat Shen two out of the three times they met in various tournaments both sides were in this season.
