Even as it put together a fine September run that included a first-place finish in its own Sept. 22 tournament, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls volleyball team understood that it was all a prelude.
Nothing for the Hornets meant more than trying to measure up to perennial Section III Class AA champion Baldwinsville, with the Bees arriving last Friday night for the biggest match of the season so far.
Having won six in a row, F-M’s hopes were quickly dashed as B’ville went from winning the first set 25-18 to handing the Hornets 25-6 and 25-11 losses in the next two sets.
Juliana Myagkota got held to five kills, with Rachel Quilty-Koval adding three kills and five digs. Morgan Napier had six assists and Sophie Thomas got four assists as Kendra Broddus had four digs.
B’ville’s Rileigh Kimball kept getting free on the front line and put away 21 kills as Katie Welcher contributed eight kills and four aces. Summer McClintic earned 22 assists, with Jenna Garvey contributing 10 assists. Defensively, Brooke Clute led with 10 digs, while Cali had nine digs and Welcher eight digs.
Before this, F-M ripped past Nottingham last Tuesday 25-5 in the first set and 25-12 in the next two sets.
Juliana Myagkota had five of the Hornets’ 18 aces, Lauren Avery adding three aces to go with six assists. Sophie Thomas had eight assists as Kendra Broddus and Harper Stoppacher had four kills apiece, Rachel Quilty-Koval contributing three kills.
Jamesville-DeWitt met Oswego last Tuesday and had one of its most impressive efforts of the season, taking just three sets to put away the Buccaneers 25-20, 25-16, 25-12.
Madeline Ferris had a sensational night, ranging from 29 assists to seven kills, four aces, three blocks and nine digs. Linda Shen had 11 kills, with Fiona McNeil getting six kills, Cassie Murphy five kills and Skylar Hardt four kills.
Defensively, everyone seemed to chip in as Alexis LeClair led with 16 digs, while Erica Schwedes had 11 digs. Shen got 12 digs, followed by Cara Glazier (nine digs), McNeil (seven digs) and Amber Hamernik, who got five digs and three kills.
At Auburn two nights later, J-D got another sweep, handling the Maroons 25-18, 26-24, 25-18, with only the second set stressful. Ferris still accumulated 30 assists, nine digs, four aces and three kills as LeClair got 22 digs.
Up front, it was spread around, Shen and Murphy each producing 10 kills as Shen also had nine digs and four aces. Schwades contributed nine digs of her own as Hamernik finished with eight kills and McNeil matched Murphy’s total of five digs. Glazier had seven digs.
Bishop Grimes began its week earlier than the others, hosting Altmar-Parish-Williamstown and, after taking the first set 25-18, dropping the second 25-22, but answering with 25-10 and 25-13 romps over the Rebels in the next two sets.
Raquel McDonald gained 29 kills, plus four aces and five blocks, as Audrey Hathaway passed it to her, earning 31 assists. Abbey Clapper and Bella D’Andrea had four kills apiece, D’Andrea adding two aces. Becca Vinciquerra got 10 digs and three aces. Mara Gutchess finished with four assists and four digs.
Grimes won again on Wednesday night, dominating Syracuse Academy of Science in a 25-10, 25-7, 25-16 sweep of the Atoms.
Eight different Cobras earned aces, with McDonald getting four of them to go with seven kills. Vinciquerra added three aces as Clapper got three kills and Hathaway picked up 12 assists.
Looking to improve to 9-2 in Thursday’s match against Hamilton, the Cobras did so, handling the Emerald Knights 25-20 in the first set and 25-14 in the two sets that followed.
McDonald had 15 kills and Hathaway got 14 assists, with Gutchess getting six assists and Vinciquerra serving up six aces. Clapper had four kills.
