ONONDAGA COUNTY – While navigating through its first varsity campaign, the East Syracuse Minoa boys volleyball team has already recorded wins over long-established programs – and nearly took down its neighbors, too.
Armed with a 2-1 record, the Spartans challenged Fayetteville-Manlius last Wednesday afternoon and it went the full five sets before the Hornets rallied to prevail.
F-M took a close opening set before ESM appeared to gain charge of the match, winning the second set 25-12 and the third set 25-16.
A couple of points from defeat, the Hornets fought back, claimed the fourth set 25-23, and in a final-set race to 15 got out in front and stayed there, F-M winning it 15-11.
Most of Aidan Liddell’s 28 assists went to Brandon Rogers and Isaac Frechette, who each earned 11 kills. Cyrus Felton had five kills and six digs, Liddell adding seven digs and Sam Elbadawi adding five digs.
On ESM’s side, Sean Finnerty, with 10 kills, led a balanced front line. Nick Brown (eight kills), Aidan Finnerty (seven kills) and Aiden Betts (six kills, three blocks) were close behind as Devin Mascato-Buffaloe passed to them with 31 assists and Cole Thomas recorded 21 digs.
Turning around to face Jamesville-DeWitt on Thursday, ESM swept the match, taking out the Red Rams 25-19, 25-20, 25-21.
Mascato-Buffaloe got 15 assists and Thomas had 10 digs. Aidan Finnerty got eight kills, Sean Finnerty seven kills and Brown seven kills.
On J-D’s side, Ty Parker earned nine kills and Jack Moore had six kills, with Nolen Brann getting 14 assists and Matt Keeler seven assists. Two days later, J-D fell to Living Word Academy 25-19, 25-19, 25-23, though Parker gained 12 kills and Keeler picked up 22 assists.
Back on Monday, Monday, ESM defeated Baldwinsville. Both of the first two sets ended 25-23, with ESM taking the opener and B’ville answering. But when the Spartans claimed the third set 25-17, it took charge and won the fourth set by that same margin.
Mascato-Buffaloe earned 36 assists as Thomas earned 25 digs. Sean Finnerty gained 15 kills, just ahead of Aidan Finnerty’s 14 kills as Brown got 11 kills, Aiden Betts had eight kills and Will D’Agositno notched five kills and five blocks.
F-M again fell short against C-NS, but it was quite competitive, each set full of runs by both teams even though F-M lost 25-21, 25-20, 25-22.
Frechette and Felton each had seven kills and five digs, while Rogers had six kills and four digs. Liddell recorded 24 assists as Elbadawi helped out with six digs.
After the match against ESM, F-M would win again on Saturday, against Baldwinsville, taking just three sets to knock off the Bees 25-19, 27-25, 25-14.
While all this was going on, J-D found success in last Monday’s match against Chittenango, prevailing in four sets over the Bears.
After it won the first set 25-18, the Red Rams dropped a close second set 26-24 and were in trouble in the third set, too, before pulling it out 25-23 and then taking the fourth 25-21, led by Nolen Brann, who earned 37 assists and served up nine aces.
Avery Tyson was dominant at the net, putting away 22 kills plus four aces, with Ty Parker adding 14 kills. Jack Moore had seven kills and seven digs as James Saroney got seven kills and seven digs.
Then J-D challenged C-NS last Wednesday afternoon and lost in three sets 25-18, 25-18, 25-13 to the Northstars.
Moore and Parker both finished with five kills, with Owen Opalenick getting seven digs and Saroney adding five digs. Brann earned 10 assists as C-NS was paced by Kevin Felasco (12 kills) and Brandon Millias (16 assists).
