In its quest to repeat as Section III Class B champions, the Chittenango girls volleyball team gained the top seed for the sectional tournament – and then had to wait.
Again with the finals slated for its home gym, the Bears would start out in the quarterfinals Monday night against no. 9 seed South Jefferson, who swept no. 8 seed Clinton in Friday’s opening-round match, the only one in the nine-team Class B bracket.
The winner would take on no. 5 seed Oneida in the semifinals after the Indians eliminated Central Valley Academy in five sets in their quarterfinal. The other sectional semifinal pits no. 2 seed Canastota against no. 3 seed Lowville.
Meanwhile, the Chittenango boys volleyball team engaged with Vernon-Verona-Sherrill last Monday night, and a big crowd watched as the Bears prevailed in four sets over the Red Devils.
VVS prevailed 25-22 in the first set, and were inches from going up 2-0 in sets, only to have Chittenango pull out that second set 27-25 and have that carry over into a 25-14 romp in the third set.
The fourth set was close, too, but the Bears closed it out 25-23 as Tim Ryder put up 38 assists, adding four kills. Jacob Graham finished with 22 digs, while Nick Callahan had 18 digs and Seth Spurgeon 12 digs.
Callahan did it all, earning six aces, nine kills, five blocks and three assists as Seth Spurgeon got 15 kills and Keith Spurgeon nine kills, plus eight digs. Griffin Smith managed eight kills and seven digs as Graham managed six kills.
On the VVS side, Owen Rose, with 22 assists, and Brennan Miller, with 20 assists, split back-line duties. Nate Brewer managed 17 kills as Rose and Adam Dufree had seven kills apiece.
Chittenango then swept Mount Markham 25-15, 25-13, 25-21 on Thursday night. Ryder, with 18 assists, fed to a front line where Graham had seven kills, Keith Spurgeon six kills and Callahan five kills.
Smith got a team-best 11 digs as Graham had 10 digs and Seth Spurgeon had seven digs, plus four kills. With that win, the Bears improved its overall record to 8-3.
