ONONDAGA COUNTY – Through its first five matches, the Baldwinsville boys volleyball team had only gone 1-4, dropping four in a row following a win over Central Square in its March 18 opener.
So when an opportunity to break that skid arose in last Wednesday’s match against Oswego, the Bees could not waste it, twice pulling out close sets and eventually subduing the Buccaneers in five.
Both the first and third sets went into two-point tie-breakers. Several set points were wasted, but B’ville emerged with wins in both of them, claiming the first 28-26 and the third 26-24.
This helped the Bees absorb Oswego taking the second set 25-21 and rolling through the fourth set 25-11.
The final set, a race to 15 points, was quickly claimed when the Bees seized an early lead and, keeping it, put away the Bucs by a score of 15-10.
John Morrissey amassed 19 kills and nine digs, with James Brussel getting 11 kills and five digs. Austin McClintic added seven kills and Adam Lobdell gained six kills. Passing to all of them, Carter Healey, steady on the back line, gained 44 assists as Liam Ramsey got six digs.
This followed last Monday’s match against East Syracuse Minoa, a first-year varsity program which already had a win over Central Square on its resume.
They split the first two sets by equal 25-23 margins, but ESM won the next two sets by 25-17 margins, overcoming Healey’s 31 assists and Morrissey’s 12 digs.
Up front, Xzavier Vanderstouw led with 10 kills, just ahead of Brussel, who had nine kills. Ben Stisser added six kills and Lobdell served up six aces. ESM had Sean Finnerty (15 kills) and Aidan Finnerty (14 kills) lead the front line as Devin Mascato-Buffaloe earned 36 assists and Cole Thomas gained 25 digs.
B’ville’s girls volleyball team, unbeaten going into April, stayed there thanks to late-week victories over Liverpool and Jamesville-DeWitt.
In the Bees’ 25-17, 25-14, 25-22 sweep of the Warriors, Kyrah Wilbur put away 15 kills and added four blocks. Brooke Clute had nine kills, three blocks and five digs as Gianna May added four kills. Jenna Garvey earned 26 assists.
Then, against J-D, it didn’t prove too easy as, after a 25-15 win in the first set, B’ville lost the second set 25-20 to the Red Rams.
However, the Bees wore J-D down, taking the third set 25-19 and the fourth set 25-11 as Wilbur proved unstoppable at the net, piling up 21 kills. Clute offered support with 12 kills as Garvey fed both of them with her 32 assists.
Later that afternoon, the B’ville boys faced Fayetteville-Manlius, where, trailing after a 25-19 first set, it nearly pulled even, only to lose the second set 27-25 and watched the Hornets close it out 25-14 in the third.
The boys Bees face Syracuse, J-D and Central Square this week as the girls would get a rematch with the F-M team that took them to five sets in the March 19 opener before facing Cicero-North Syracuse and Nottingham.
