ONONDAGA COUNTY – A busy opening week of boys volleyball concluded Saturday with neighbors Fayetteville-Manlius and East Syracuse Minoa going head-to-head.
And it was the Hornets getting the best of it, taking the first set 25-19, prevailing in a closer second set 25-21 and then closing out the Spartans 25-13 in the third for the sweep.
Jaden Duggal finished with 27 assists, passing to a front line where Chris Cleary gained nine kills and Davin Woolridge added six kills. Max Danaher and Dylan Vendetti had four kills apiece as Kieran Egan and James Addonozio both got three kills. Aden Pollock had four digs.
On ESM’s side, Cole Thomas earned eight kills, with Aiden Betts adding seven kills and Ben Clappin gaining six kills. Passing to all of them, Jacob Franklin accumulated 20 assists.
ESM had already played twice before taking on F-M, starting last Tuesday with a long battle against Living Word Academy that ended in a five-set defeat to the Lions.
Having won the opening set 26-24, ESM dropped the next two sets 25-14 and 25-21. Fighting back, the Spartans won a close fourth set 25-22, but in the final-set race to 15, Living Word pulled it out 15-13.
Thomas had 10 kills, with Betts getting five kills and four aces. Franklin accumulated 25 assists as the Lions’ Matt Rudisky, with 37 assists, fed it to Jacob Mazur (11 kills), Riddick Robinson (10 kills) and Tim Piewak (nine kills), Mazur adding five aces and Piewak four aces.
F-M had opened against Syracuse City last Wednesday night, the Hornets steadily working its way to a 25-16, 25-14, 25-19 sweep as Jaden Duggal amassed 24 assists.
Danaher, earning seven kills, paced a balanced Hornets front line where Cleary and Venditti each gained five kills, Woolridge had four kills and Egan added three kills. Venditti and Pollock had four digs apiece.
When ESM had its turn against Syracuse on Thursday, it won 25-19 in the first set and 25-12 each of the next two sets, paced by Thomas, who had seven kills, five aces, four digs, two blocks and two assists.
Betts picked up 12 kills and Ben Clappin earned seven kills, with Sehn also picking up five assists plus seven digs. Franklin earned 22 assists and six digs.
Away from all this, Jamesville-DeWitt had its own successful opener against Central Square last Thursday night, the Red Rams taking just three sets to down the Redhawks 25-16, 25-13, 25-17.
Ty Parker was a powerful force at the net, getting 15 kills and three blocks. Avery Tyson added six kills and four aces, with Aaron Ko getting five kills and three aces as Matt Keeler earned 17 assists. Aidan Bates got 10 assists, three aces, two kills and two blocks.
Then J-D swept Oswego 25-20, 25-22, 25-17 on Saturday, an impressive effort fueled by eight kills from Parker and seven kills from Ko as Keeler got 13 assists and Bates added six assists, plus three kills.
