ONONDAGA COUNTY – Two straight seasons of defeats in the Section III Division I championship game has made the Cicero-North Syracuse boys volleyball quite hungry as 2023 got underway.
And it only figured that the Northstars would open against the very same Fayetteville-Manlius side that beat them in an epic five-set title match last fall.
In this Friday-night showdown, each of the first two sets was close, but the Hornets pulled them out by margins of 25-22 and 25-21, then closed it out 25-17 in the third.
Jack Waite, aside from his 16 assists, put up eight kills, second only to Carter King’s 11 kills as Carter added six digs, two assists and two blocks. Colin Dietz added four kills and Jeff Goldberg got seven digs.
On F-M’s side, Connor Sugar managed 30 assists as Jared Duggal got nine digs. Up front, junior Cortland Schroeder led with nine kills, Chris Cleary and Mike McAndrew each getting seven kills as Charles Addonizio had five kills and Guy Juran four kills.
Meanwhile, Liverpool, who tailed off a bit last fall after winning the 2021 sectional Division I title over C-NS, took a setback in its Aug. 31 opener, falling in four sets to Living Word Academy.
The Lions claimed close 25-23 and 28-26 sets to go up 2-0, and though the Warriors won the third 25-21, Living Word controlled the fourth set 25-16 to end it.
Jack DeForge, in defeat, had six kills, with Dylan Lane getting four kills and four assists. Sean Frawley also got four blocks as Kellen Conway recorded 16 assists. For the Lions, Tali Connor (16 kills) and Jack Connor (12 kills) led the front line as Dan Maloney (24 assists) and Jonathan Mazur (16 assists) fed them.
Then, facing a Baldwinsville side that was 1-16 a year ago, Liverpool won the first set 25-23, but then lost a close second set 25-21, dropped the third 25-15 and saw the Bees win 25-22 in the fourth to close it out.
DeForge managed 14 kills and Frawley added six kills. Conway improved to 18 assists and had a team-best eight digs, ahead of Cody Badger and Shah Sahak earning six digs apiece.
For B’ville, Nate Mekker had 21 assists, adding four kills and two blocks, while Brendan Micho earned 14 assists, six kills, two blocks and two digs.
Leading a balanced Bees front line, Brayden Kudarauskas had 12 kills, four digs and three aces, while Xzavier Vanderstuow had 10 kills and two aces. Ethan Davenport chimed in with five kills and five blocks.
