For all of the Baldwinsville boys volleyball players, it was a familiar narrative – earn a chance to gain the Section III Division I championship by wresting the crown from Cicero-North Syracuse.
Only this time, the setting had changed.
No longer having a mid-week, televised match on the Northstars’ home court, the sectional final now took place on a Saturday at a neutral setting, Jamesville-DeWitt High School.
To win, B’ville would have to turn around five-set and four-set defeats to C-NS during the regular season. In both instances, the Bees were quite competitive and left those matches believing that it would eventually catch the Northstars.
However, the third encounter would only lead to more frustration as, by scores of 25-16, 25-21 and 25-23, C-NS withstood everything B’ville threw at them and, again, earned the sectional title.
Luc Jerome managed nine kills and five digs, with Connor Garvey adding eight kills as David Cornell got seven kills and eight digs. Thomas Higman passed it to them, earning 23 assists as Bradford Doubleday contributed seven digs.
C-NS was just too good, though, as Trent Caviness did it all, from 11 kills and 16 assists to three aces, three blocks and four digs. Brandon Millias added 17 assists as Jake Den Bleyker (nine kills), John Hendry (eight kills) and Kevin Felasco (seven kills) manned the front line.
Just to get this chance, B’ville first had to win at Fayetteville-Manlius in last Thursday’s sectional semifinal, and the Bees fought its way to a four-set victory over the Hornets.
The Hornets and Bees had split two meetings in the regular season, each of them also lasting four sets. And they split the first two sets here, with B’ville taking the opener and F-M fighting it out to claim the second set 28-26.
Things stayed close, with every single point important. But it was the Bees able to inch in front and, by 25-23 and 25-22 margins, take the third and fourth sets to end the Hornets’ season.
Higman produced 37 assists, feeding it to a deep, well-balanced front line led by Jerome, who produced 12 kills and added five digs.
Cornell, with10 kills and two aces, closely followed as Garvey got eight kills, four blocks and three aces. Aidan Priest had seven kills, seven digs and three aces as Doubleday also finished with seven digs.
F-M, in defeat, still had Chris Blum dish out 41 assists to a front line led by Anderson Fuller, who got 15 kills. Joe Powless had nine kills and seven digs, with Aaron Costanza adding seven kills. Evan Bybee and Adam Tantalo had five kills apiece.
