All through this season, the Baldwinsville boys volleyball team chased Cicero-North Syracuse, unable to gain so much as a single set off of the Northstars in two head-to-head meetings.
But in the third and most important encounter, the Bees were intent on both reversing those previous results and ending C-NS’s two-year reign as Section III Division I champions.
B’ville was up a set, and also leading in the second set, during Tuesday night’s sectional final, but were unable to stretch out its lead, and the Northstars rallied to prevail in four sets.
Many factors contributed to the excitement of this match. B’ville was a better team than in those two earlier losses on Sept. 6 and Oct. 4, having reshuffled its rotation to center its front line around Tyler Aiello and its back line around Dan Cerqua and Aidan Priest.
Also, the Bees had already survived one playoff test, going to Fayetteville-Manlius and knocking off the no. 2 seed Hornets in the semifinals in four sets on Nov. 2. By contrast, C-NS had not played a match in 12 days.
Right from the outset, B’ville showed the Northstars how much it had improved, taking a lead early in the first set and stretching it out to 14-10. When Aiello’s ace made it 20-17, C-NS used a timeout, and rattled off five straight points in response.
The Bees used its own timeout and, trailing 23-21, pulled back even, and then used Nate Johns’ kill to move in front before converting the only set point it needed to win 25-23.
Armed with that confidence, B’ville roared to a 10-5 lead in the second set. C-NS used a 6-1 run to catch up, and it would go back and forth from there, the Bees inching ahead, the Northstars constantly answering despite its struggles with the serve.
Fighting off a set point, B’ville got it to 24-24 and were two points from a two-set advantage, but C-NS pulled it out, 26-24, and the Bees would never regain control of the match.
In both the third and fourth sets, the Northstars seized early leads and, led by Josh Bigford (29 kills) and Tristen Cummings (37 assists, seven kills, five blocks, 15 digs) were able to stay in front, prevailing 25-17 and 25-18 to seize another sectional championship.
Aiello still managed 21 kills and 10 digs, with Cerqua gaining 40 assists and six digs as Priest got 16 digs. Helping Aiello on the front line, Johns had eight kills, with David Cornell getting six kills, Cole Zsmeyle five kills and Luc Jerome three kills.
B’ville finished its season with a 10-8 record, and will see seven seniors depart, including Aiello, Cerqua, Johns and Zsemyle, meaning more will be put on the likes of Priest, Cornell and Jerome going into 2018.
