With a four-set defeat to Fayetteville-Manlius on Sept. 13 still fresh on its mind, the Baldwinsville boys volleyball team may not have carried too many expectations into last Tuesday’s match at Cicero-North Syracuse.
Yet that was just the Bees needed to nearly produce its biggest victory in years, twice coming back on the undefeated, reigning Section III champion Northstars and getting within inches of a victory before C-NS pulled it out in five sets.
After dropping the first set 25-19, B’ville was in trouble in the second set, but pulled it out 25-23 to draw even. It remained tight in the third set, but the Bees lost it 25-22.The fourth set followed the second, again with B’ville in danger but again winning it 25-23.
The final set was the most tense of them all, each side inching toward match point but not getting there. Finally, at 25-25, C-NS got the serve back and held on to it to end the match 27-25.
B’ville featured Thomas Higman on its back line, who earned 37 assists passing it to Luc Jerome, who had 16 kills and 10 digs, while Connor Garvey and Aidan Priest had nine kills apiece and David Cornell got six kills, plus five digs. Bradford Doubleday earned nine digs to go with three assists and two aces.
On C-NS’s back line, Trent Caviness had 22 assists, 12 kills, three blocks, five digs and two aces, while Brandon Millias earned 23 assists and seven digs. Jake Den Bleyker produced 18 kills, with Kevin Felasco getting nine kills and six digs.
Gaining confidence from this effort, B’ville took on Oswego Thursday and pulled out 25-21 wins in the first two sets. After the Buccaneers took the third set 25-16, the Bees handled the fourth set 25-18 to take the match.
Priest put up a team-best 14 kills, just ahead of Jerome, who had 11 kills. Nick Schulz added six kills and three blocks as Cornell (four kills) and Garvey (three kills) helped. Higman fed them all with 34 assists as Doubleday earned 11 digs.
Back on Wednesday, the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team had its own key early-season match against C-NS that had a far different outcome.
Just as before, these Bees handled these Northstars, the 25-18, 25-12, 25-18 decision featuring a superb performance from Summer McClintic, who amassed 43 assists, plus six digs.
Rileigh Kimball gained 14 kills and six digs, with Katie Welcher managing 11 kills. Sophia Cronk produced 10 digs to go with her six kills as Carly Mayfinished with five kills. Sophia Cali chimed in with five aces.
On C-NS’s side, Kim Barry managed four aces and seven kills, with Jennifer Carl adding eight kills and seven digs. Brooke Segars got 12 digs. Gracie Gleason had six kills and Adrianna Houston gained five kills.
In Friday’s 25-5, 25-22, 25-19 sweep of Henninger, B’ville mostly leaned on its reserves to do the work, and they came through.
Jenna Garvey got her chance anchoring the back line and earn 25 assists, with Megan Brecht getting 10 kills and Courtney Clute earning six kills. Jenna Wallace and Maddy Shuler had four kills apiece and Maggie Wiegand earned six digs.
After a tournament appearance in Victor, B’ville would face Corcoran Tuesday and then have a big match Friday at Fayetteville-Manlius before returning home Saturday for its own “Fall Fling” Tournament, where it welcomes many top teams from across the area.
