ONONDAGA COUNTY – Just as it had done throughout September, the Cicero-North Syracuse boys volleyball team turned away all of the competition it faced.
And that included the only other undefeated side in Section III, Jamesville-DeWitt, who challenged the Northstars last Thursday night but ended up on the wrong end of a sweep.
Despite its 8-0 record going into the match, the Red Rams saw C-NS get better as the night went on, with the 25-19 first set closer than the 25-16 and 25-12 sets that followed.
Joe Seliger, with 12 kills, led a powerful front line where Reece Congel had nine kill, Carter King got eight kills and Andrew George earned seven kills and four blocks. Jack Waite passed to all of them with 33 assists as Josh Luce led the defense with eight digs.
Liverpool, who lost to C-NS on Sept. 20, had another setback last Monday when, in a clash of the two reigning sectional champions, Division II champion Living Word Academy prevailed in five sets.
The Lions won each of the first two sets 25-23 and 25-22. Nearly swept, Liverpool was able to pull out the third 28-26 and then took the fourth set 25-21.
But in the final set Living Word won it 15-11 as Matt Rudsky, earning 58 assists, passed it to Riddick Robinson (17 kills), Jack Connor (15 kills) and Tyler Paddock (12 kills), with Jeremiah Plewak adding nine kills.
On Liverpool’s side, Anthony Pezzino put away 20 kills and added 10 digs, with Sean Frawley getting seven kills and Aiden Hunter four kills. Jack DeForge earned 25 assists, six blocks and seven digs. Shah Sahak earned 19 digs.
Ironically, C-NS met Living Word the very next night, and the Lions picked off a set – but the Northstars prevailed in four to move to 7-0 on the season.
Waite picked up 40 assists, five aces, three blocks and three digs. George stepped up with 13 kills, Seliger adding 11 kills and three aces as Congel amassed nine kills and six blocks. Peter Gill earned five kills, matching King, who earned four aces as Luce had nine digs.
Meanwhile, Liverpool went up against J-D and lost in three sets, unable to recover from a 25-23 opening set that the Red Rams took on the way to winning the next two 25-18 and 25-13.
Pezzino had 13 kills, but no other Warriors had more than Frawley and Hunter’s three kills as DeForge got 17 assists and four aces. Sahak added five digs. J-D had 36 assists from Tim Cooper, who passed it to Michael Ryan (11 kills), Luke McQuaid (10 kills), Aaron Ko and Avery Kielbasinski (eight kills apiece).
On Friday night, C-NS met Rochester McQuaid, a showdown of superpowers that, at last, gave the Northstars its first defeat of the season.
Even this effort was special, though, as C-NS, after dropping the first set 25-23, won the second set 25-20 and had chances, in the third set, to move ahead of the Knights.
But McQuaid pulled it out, 28-26, and then won the fourth 25-19, overcoming Waite’s 34 assists and 10 digs as Luce got 12 digs. In front of them, Congel and King both had 10 kills, with Gill earning nine kills, George adding eight kills and Seliger putting away seven kills.
