CENTRAL NEW YORK – Still in the Class AA ranks, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls volleyball team stormed into the 2023 season in a big way with, among other things, its own tournament that was held last Saturday afternoon.
Having swept Corcoran in its Aug. 30 opener, the Hornets were impressive again at Central Square last Tuesday night, taking just three sets to defeat the Redhawks 25-15, 25-21, 25-20.
Rebekah Beasley and Kalyna Dannenberg each had nine kills, with Beasley adding 11 digs. Kathryn McNany paced the defense with 15 digs as Mia Knuth got five kills and two blocks. Passing to all of them, Ava Zerrillo earned 27 assists.
A 25-9, 25-22, 25-18 sweep of Henninger followed on Thursday night, led by Beasley’s five aces and four kills and Dannenberg’s five kills. Sydney McIntyre and Gretchen Stoppacher each got three aces, Kara Evans adding five assists as Zerillo and Gretchen Stoppacher had four assists apiece.
Jamesville-DeWitt, after taking a three-set defeat to Westhill in its Aug. 29 opener, was far more effective late in the week against Henninger.
Sweeping the Black Knights 25-9, 25-14, 25-15, the Red Rams got seven aces from Yeva Balayan, with Cadence Milligan putting up five aces to go with her nine assists.
Then, meeting Cicero-North Syracuse last Tuesday night, J-D split the first two sets, only to have the Northstars take over late in a 25-17, 16-25, 25-16, 25-11 decision.
Aaliyah Anderson remained a front-line presence thanks to her eight kills and five blocks. Claire Trevisani had seven kills, with Merris Kessler adding five kills as Kanami LaClair got 17 digs and Milligan earned 19 assists.
Rebounding on Thursday night, J-D handled Corcoran 25-15, 25-21, 25-10, with Milligan getting 10 assists and four kills as Yeva Balayan (eight assists) helped her on the back line. Kessler had four blocks, with Lyla Commandeur and Amariyah McClinton each earing four kills.
Bishop Grimes played its opener Sept. 1, against Living Word Academy, and lost in three sets 25-17, 25-11, 26-24 to the Lions.
The Cobras nearly extended the match in the third set as Caroline Bukuru had five assists and Kayla Duenkel finished with nine digs. Chloe Dailey and Mia Reed had two aces apiece.
Returning to the win column last Wednesday night, Grimes overcame a narrow second-set defeat to top Altmar-Parish-Williamstown in four sets 25-11, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17.
Saba Fasama served up 10 aces to go with her six kills. Duenkel had seven aces and five kills, with Dailey getting nine aces and Bukuru more than doubling her assist total to 11.
So Grimes now faced Bishop Ludden Friday night, the two private-school rivals battling it out and the Cobras falling to the Gaelic Knights 25-16, 25-11, 25-16 to fall to 1-2 on the season. Duenkel had six kills, with Dailey getting three kills and five digs as Bukuru earned 10 assists.
