In boys volleyball, a local showdown last Wednesday afternoon pitted Fayetteville-Manlius against Jamesville-DeWitt, and just like when these girls teams had played a couple of weeks earlier, it would go to five sets.
The Hornets emerged from a long opening set winning 29-27, which helped it to withstand the Red Rams winning the next two sets 25-16 and 25-18. Only a few points from defeat, F-M rallied to win the fourth 25-22 and, in a final-set race to 15, did just enough to win 15-13.
F-M’s Andersen Fuller led his side with 19 kills, while Devin Kapral had six kills, Cyrus Felton getting four kills and six digs. On the back line, Brandon Rogers finished with 22 assists and Aidan Liddell got 18 assists.
For its noble effort, J-D featured 19 kills from Matt Cieplicki and 10 kills from Nick Kemmis, with Kenny Hildreth getting nine kills and four aces. Brevin Scullion earned 42 assists and Matt Kemmis kept things alive with 13 digs.
A day earlier, J-D faced Living Word Academy, taking the first two sets 25-22 and 25-19 and, after the Lions avoided a sweep 26-24 in the third, taking the fourth set 25-21.
Scullion amassed 40 assists and Kemmis led the Red Rams’ defense with 16 digs. Cieplicki, putting away 15 kills, led a front line where Hildreth earned 12 kills and Nick Kemmis had 11 kills. Braedon Anderson finished with five kills.
Just 24 hours after beating J-D, F-M had to face Oswego, who took a 26-24 and survived a marathon second set to prevail 33-31 before the Buccaneers closed out the Hornets 25-22 in the third. Fuller had 17 kills, while Liddell got 17 assists and Rogers earned 13 assists.
Then, on Friday night, J-D went up against unbeaten Cicero-North Syracuse and, trailing by two sets, nearly forced the match to the wire before falling 25-17, 25-14, 21-25, 25-23 to the Northstars.
Cieplicki led the comeback attempt, gaining 16 kills as Nick Kemmis got nine kills. Scullion earned 32 assists and Matt Kemmis finished with 16 digs as, for C-NS, Brandon Millias had 41 assists, Dan Seliger got 15 kills and Kevin Felasco and Carter Wisely each had nine kills
A victory in the Silver division of the Sept. 28 Baldwinsville Fall Swing Tournament had the Fayetteville-Manlius girls volleyball team full of confidence heading into October.
Still, the Hornets, like every other area large school, measured itself against Baldwinsville, and when it returned to Baker High School last Thursday night, it looked to improve upon its four-set defeat to them on Sept. 9.
B’ville was far better in the rematch, though, pounding F-M 25-12, 25-16, 25-9 as Rileigh Kimball had 12 kills, Brooke Clute got 14 digs and the duo of Jenna Garvey (17 assists) and Summer McClintic (12 assists) anchored the back line.
The Hornets were active on defense as Nina Avery had 15 digs and Kendra Broddus got 10 digs, with Harper Stoppacher adding six digs. Broddus and Mackenzie Helmer had three kills apiece, Morgan Napier producing 16 assists.
Jamesville-DeWitt had made its own long run at the B’ville Fall Swing, reaching the Bronze division finals before a three-set defeat to 2018 state Class B champion Westhill.
In its next head-to-head match, the Red Rams took on Bishop Grimes and, except for a close second set, breezed through most of the battle with the Cobras, prevailing 25-15, 25-23, 25-10.
Earning 20 assists, Maris Ryan passed it around to a well-balanced J-D front line. Elsa Hardt led with five kills, while Amber Hamernik, Skylar Hardt and Linda Shen had four kills apiece. Aurora LeClair earned eight digs as she and Cassandra Cappelletti both had three aces.
On Grimes’ side, Lexi Emmi finished with 13 assists and 10 digs as Maddie Mowers also had 10 digs. Bella D’Andrea earned six digs. Izzy Kinsey finished with five kills, while Ajak Ater and Abbey Clapper had three kills apiece.
Grimes recovered Thursday to defeat Hamilton 26-24, 25-17, 25-21. Kinsey gained 12 kills, with D’Andrea and Ater adding four kills apiece as Emmi, in addition to her four kills, got 16 assists. Maddie Mowers had nine digs and Leah Perry got eight digs.
As that went on, J-D swept Fulton 25-17, 25-12, 25-22. Shen and Elsa Hardt had seven kills apiece, Fiona McNeil adding five kills. Ryan produced 19 assists, three kills and six digs and LeClair gained 16 digs, plus three aces.
