While the competition atop Division I boys volleyball was already quite close, Fayetteville-Manlius got another reminder.
Against the same Baldwinsville team it beat in four sets on Sept. 13, the Hornets saw things reverse, with the first set crucial as it fell 25-22 and then saw the Bees dominate the second set 25-14.
Though F-M won the third set 25-20 to extend the match, B’ville prevailed 25-16 in the fourth to salvage a regular-season split.
Chris Blum still picked up 27 assists, with Anderson Fuller gaining 12 kills and five digs. Aaron Costanza added six kills and seven digs as Cyrus Felton stepped up for five kills and Evan Bybee had four kills.
Joe Powless augmented his three aces with eight digs, but B’ville featured a balanced front line where Aidan Priest (11 kills), David Cornell (nine kills) and Luc Jerome (seven kills) excelled in front of Thomas Higman (29 assists), while Connor Garvey put together five kills and five aces
As for Jamesville-DeWitt, the Red Rams had an impressive effort in last Tuesday’s match against Central Square, taking just three sets to knock off the Redhawks 25-23, 25-22, 25-21.
Earning all of the crucial points, J-D got eight kills apiece from Matt Cieplicki and Nick Kemmis, with Nick Mandelis adding four kills. Kenny Hildreth and Ameen Iraqui had two kills apiece as Sam Fechtner earned 19 assists.
Hosting Liverpool Thursday night, J-D again won in three sets, putting away the Warriors 25-18, 25-21, 25-14 as Liam Kaplan returned to setting duties and finished with 26 assists.
Cieplicki, in addition to his 12 kills, got two blocks and two digs, with Kemmis getting seven kills, two aces and two blocks. Mandelis improved to five kills as Hildreth added three kills and Brevin Scullion picked up four digs.
F-M, meanwhile, had its own match with Central Square and took out the Redhawks in a 25-15, 25-17, 25-18 sweep, improving to 7-4 overall as the Hornets got set for another head-to-head match against J-D (5-6) next Tuesday night, two days before a clash with Cicero-North Syracuse.
