CENTRAL NEW YORK – Still undefeated nearing the end of September, the Jamesville-DeWitt boys volleyball team looked to build upon its six-match win streak and did so at the expense of the reigning Section III Division I champions.
The Red Rams faced Liverpool last Tuesday night and, after a close first set, was able to assert itself the rest of the way, ultimately putting together a 25-23, 25-18, 25-13 sweep of the Warriors.
With his 36 assists, Tim Cooper spread his passes to a deep, talented front line led by Michael Ryan, who picked up 11 kills, and Luke McQuaid, who had 10 kills.
Aaron Ko and Avery Kielbasinski finished with eight kills apiece, while Aidan Bates had three kills, two blocks and two assists. Anthony Pezzino (13 kills) and Jack DeForge (17 assists, four aces) led Liverpool.
And this led to Thursday night’s match, where 8-0 J-D and 7-0 Cicero-North Syracuse clashed – and the Red Rams were swept by the Northstars 25-19, 25-16, 25-12.
Power from the C-NS trio of Joe Seliger (13 kills), Reece Congel (nine kills) and Andrew George (seven kills, four blocks) overwhelmed the Rams despite McQuaid again getting 10 kills and Ryan adding six kills. Cooper distributed 21 assists.
Fayetteville-Manlius, fresh off its own defeat to J-D the week before, returned to action last Tuesday and nearly lost the first set against upset-minded Baldwinsville.
Once the Hornets won that set 25-23, though, it claimed the next two sets by 25-15 and 25-13 margins, Chris Cleary putting away 15 kills as Charles Addonizio (seven kills) and Kieran Egan (five kills) helped and Connor Sugar passed to them, earning 29 assists.
Two nights later, against Oswego, it was a different matter. F-M won the first set 25-14 and seemed to have control when it won a long second set 29-27.
The Buccaneers turned it around, though, pulling out the next two sets by 25-22 and 25-21 margins and winning the final set 15-11 to complete the comeback as Carson White’s 41 assists led to 16 kills from Jack Donovan and 15 kills from Aiden Evans.
On F-M’s side, Sugar dished out 49 assists, with Cleary piling up 23 kills and three blocks. Addonizio had 12 kills, with Max Danaher adding 10 kills and two blocks.
East Syracuse Minoa had played back on Monday night, against Syracuse City, where it won each of the first two sets by 25-18 margins before a narrow 25-23 loss in the third.
But the Spartans closed out the match 25-21 in the fourth, with Ben Clappin piling up 16 kills to lead the front line as Donovan Randall dished out 36 assists.
Cole Thomas had eight kills and nine digs, with Tristan Henderson adding six kills, five blocks, four aces and seven digs. Defensively, Jayce Domres managed 11 digs and Jacob Sehn had 10 digs.
Now ESM took on Baldwinsville, whom it beat two weeks earlier in four sets, and this time needed just three sets to get past the Bees and improve its overall record to 7-3. Henderson and Thomas each got seven kills, while Clappin had six kills and Randall gained 17 assists.
