Whenever the Fayetteville-Manlius girls volleyball team meets up with Cicero-North Syracuse, it’s bound to be close and hard-fought, stretching both sides to their limits.
It was the case Sept. 11 when the Northstars prevailed in five sets. And it was the case again last Monday night when, on its home court, the Hornets again saw the match go to five sets, but this time finished on top to improve its overall record to 9-3.
All kinds of top performances were put together on both sides, with F-M having Morgan Napier earn 34 assists and 18 digs, while Nina Avery notched 36 digs. Juliana Myagkota added 20 digs.
Up front, Harper Stoppacher had 15 kills and 14 digs, with Kendra Broddus notching 11 kills and 13 digs. Anna Williams had eight kills and Mackenzie Helmer had five kills and four blocks as Sophie Thomas contributed three aces.
C-NS saw Aurora Lesinski put away a season-best 20 kills as Brooke Segars, along with her 12 kills, got 17 digs and three aces. Adrianna Houston added nine kills.
Also for the Northstars, Jennifer Carl earned 37 assists, adding seven aces, seven digs and three kills, with Brooke Nicolaos getting nine kills, five kills, two aces and three assists. Cassidy Ormond helped Carl on the back line as she got 14 assists.
That same Monday night, Jamesville-DeWitt was at Marcellus, where it won the first set 25-19, dropped the second set 25-20 but then rolled past the Mustangs 25-19 and 25-20 in the next two sets to win it in four.
Maris Ryan finished with 38 assists, adding 12 digs and five kills. Aurora LeClair got 32 digs, Cara Glazier 12 digs and Erica Schwedes 10 digs to offer further help on J-D’s back line.
Linda Shen’s 16 kills and 16 digs paced a deep front line for the Rams as Sophia Ferris finished with 10 kills. Elsa Hardt had seven kills, four blocks and six digs, with Amber Hamernik getting six kills.
J-D didn’t play again until Friday night, when it faced Skaneateles and, though the match got tougher as it went along, it still swept the Lakers 25-15, 25-19, 26-24.
Ryan put together 16 assists, six kills and seven digs, helping everywhere. Glazier added three aces and LeClair had nine digs as, up front, Fiona McNeil had four kills, followed closely by three kills apiece from Shen, Ferris, Elsa Hardt and Skylar Hardt.
That was after F-M’s 25-8, 25-6, 25-12 sweep of Nottingham on Thursday that included eight aces from Avery to go with three kills. Napier had nine assists and Thomas six assists as Stoppacher and Ijeoma Okoh had four kills apiece, Kendra Broddus and Emily Gryczka each earning four digs.
Bishop Grimes met Bishop Ludden last Tuesday night. After a 25-14 defeat in the first set, the Cobras pulled out the second 25-23, only to get run over by the Gaelic Knights 25-9 in the third.
And though it was close in the fourth set, Ludden, by a 25-22 margin, closed out Grimes. Lexi Emmi had 16 assists, three kills, three aces and five digs to lead the Cobras.
Maddie Mowers earned 12 digs, while up front Izzy Kinsey had a team-best six kills. Ajok Ater added five kills, with Bella D’Andrea and Abby Clapper matching Emmi’s total of three kills. Kate Ruddy (27 assists) and Megan Virkler (12 kills, five assists) led Ludden.
On Thursday, Grimes took a 25-17, 25-14, 21-25, 25-23 defeat to LaFayette, nearly erasing a 2-0 deficit in sets as Emmi finshed with 20 assists and 11 digs. Mowers got 18 digs, with D’Andrea earning six kills. Kinsey had five kills and seven digs as Ater and Clapper also finished with five kills.
