ONONDAGA COUNTY – With the Section III playoffs looming, each of the area’s three high school boys volleyball teams added to their win totals.
Yet the best match involved two of them against one another, Fayetteville-Manlius rallying from two sets down to beat East Syracuse Minoa last Thursday night in a five-set classic.
The Spartans appeared to have things in hand when it won the opening set 25-22 and then rolled through the second set by a 25-16 margin.
Battling back, the Hornets won the third 25-18 and, pushed to the brink in the fourth set, was able to grab it 25-18, leading to a final set where F-M, by a 15-11 margin, completed the comeback.
Earning 46 assists, Connor Sugar passed to a front line led by Kieran Egan, who had 12 kills. John Angelicola had 10 kills, with Max Danaher adding nine kills, 10 digs and three assists.
Chris Cleary got eight kills as Mike McAndrew had seven kills and Charles Addonizio added five kills. Ryan Blum and Sean Kellish equaled Addonizio’s total of six digs, Sugar adding five digs.
Jamesville-DeWitt, the favorites in the sectional Division II tournament, reinforced that status last Monday when it claimed a four-set decision over the Oswego Buccaneers.
Each of the first two sets went 25-19 in the Red Rams’ favor. Oswego narrowly avoided a sweep, taking the third set 26-24, but J-D closed it out 25-21 in a tough fourth set.
Tim Cooper, with his 42 assists, passed it to a front line that included Aidan Bates and Luke McQuaid, who each got 11 kills. Avery Kielbasinski had 10 kills, with Aaron Ko getting seven kills and Michael Ryan six kills as Ko and Ryan both got three blocks.
Then, in Thursday’s showdown with Living Word Academy, the Rams were quite impressive, recording a 25-19, 25-18, 25-22 sweep of the defending sectional Division II champion Lions.
Between McQuaid, who had 12 kills, and Ko, who got eight kills, J-D had plenty of power in front of Cooper, who earned 24 assists as Kielbasinski contributed five kills.
ESM wants to challenge J-D, and what happened in last Monday’s match against Living Word Academy had to be encouraging, even with the F-M loss later in the week.
In close first and second sets, the Spartans beat the Lions by equal 26-24 margins, and then prevailed 25-21 in the third to complete the sweep as Cole Thomas and Tristan Henderson had 10 kills apiece, with Donovan Randall earning 22 assists and Jacob Sehn adding six digs.
F-M faced Oswego last Tuesday night, and it was a close match early, the Hornets winning the first set 25-20 but losing the second 25-23 to the Buccaneers.
Here, the third set proved decisive, F-M and Oswego both getting chance to move ahead, but once the Hornets won 27-25, it rolled through the fourth set to close out the Bucs 25-17.
Cleary and Addonizio both picked up nine kills, Addonizio adding three aces and five digs. Danaher and Egan had six kills apiece as Sugar picked up 27 assists and Axel Chamot gained five assists. Kellish led the Hornets with six digs.
The sectional Division I playoffs have F-M facing Liverpool to see who will challenge top seed Cicero-North Syracuse in Saturday’s final, while in Division II top seed J-D faces Oswego and ESM, the no. 2 seed, faces Living Word.
