ONONDAGA COUNTY – At least in the early portion of this abbreviated season, the Cicero-North Syracuse girls volleyball team is discovering that Baldwinsville might have a bit more vulnerability than in autumns past – and that it has plenty of toughness, too.
The Northstars saw the Bees survive a five-set battle with Fayetteville-Manlius on March 19. Then, with its own turn last Tuesday night, C-NS jumped out in front by winning the first set 25-21.
But B’ville turned it around, improving as the match went along and taking the next three sets by margins of 25-20, 25-14 and 25-17.
Still, Brooke Segars picked up 11 kills and Maddy Howell contributed six kills to lead the Northstars, Madison Roche adding four kills.
Cassidy Ormond picked up 22 assists and eight digs as Hannah Mingle had 21 digs. B’ville had Kyrah Wilbur (12 kills) and Brooke Clute (11 kills) take passes from Jenna Garvey, who earned 28 assists.
Even with this defeat, C-NS emerged with confidence that would carry over into its own match against F-M on Thursday where it squandered a two-set advantage, but still beat the Hornets in five.
A 25-18 first-set win was followed by a 25-14 romp in the second set, but just like it did against B’ville a week earlier, F-M turned it around, handling the Northstars 25-13 in the third and 25-14 in the fourth.
Regrouping in the final set, C-NS went out in front and stayed there, taking the match 25-18 as Ormond earned 33 assists and Mingle dazzled on defense with 33 digs.
Segars finished with 12 kills, four aces and seven digs, while McKenna Johnston got 10 kills and three digs. Alita Santangelo earned nine kills and four blocks. F-M got 38 assists and 12 digs from Morgan Napier, 17 kills from Harper Stoppacher and 19 digs from Molly McNany.
Back on Tuesday night, Liverpool ran into Jamesville-DeWitt and lost in three sets to the Red Rams, who got 18 assists from Maris Ryan, eight kills from Sophia Ferris and six kills from Linda Shen.
After this, the Warriors were off for a week before challenging C-NS on Tuesday in advance of matches against B’ville and F-M later in the week as the Northstars would also face West Genesee and Henninger.
