ONONDAGA COUNTY – Knowing that the Section III Class AA championship might get decided between them, the Fayetteville-Manlius girls volleyball team was ready for last Thursday night’s big match against West Genesee.
And it was that readiness which had much to do with the Hornets beating the Wildcats in four sets, even though a big early lead almost vanished.
Everything worked as F-M tore through the first two sets 25-16 and 25-13, and were on the brink of a sweep before WG pulled out the third 26-24 and made things close in the fourth, too.
Still,the Hornets closed it out, 25-22, led by Ava Zerillo, who amassed 50 assists to go with 11 digs and four aces, and Rebekah Beasley, who earned 22 kills and 16 digs.
Kalyna Dannenberg stood out, too, with 17 kills and 14 digs, Malana Noble adding eight kills and 10 digs as Kathyrn McNany had 10 digs and Olivia Tom gained three kills.
Both sides nearly didn’t make it to this match unbeaten. They both had to win in five sets last Tuesday – F-M edging Baldwinsville, WG surrendering a two-set lead to Cicero-North Syracuse but still pulling it out 15-10 in the fifth.
When F-M took on B’ville, it was the Bees claiming a close opening set 25-23, only to have the Hornets pull out the next two sets, each of them by equal 25-21 margins.
Moving to the fourth set, B’ville had the most lopsided win yet, 25-19, yet it could not carry over into the final set, where F-M got the crucial points and won it 15-11.
Dannenberg put away 25 kills to go with 16 digs, while Beasley managed 14 kills and 16 digs. Noble added six kills as Zerrillo earned 48 assists and McNany had nine digs.
Just as significant was Jamesville-DeWitt reclaiming its status among SCAC Empire division teams by knocking off Fulton in five sets last Wednesday night.
In their first encounter since last fall’s sectional Class A final, the Red Rams were overwhelmed 25-14 in the first set and were on the brink of a bigger deficit, only to fight off set points and pull out the second 28-26.
Armed with that momentum, J-D won the third set 25-20 and, though it lost the fourth set 25-21, it quickly went out in front in the final set and pulled way to win the match 15-8.
Merris Kessler had 13 kills, with Aaliyah Anderson getting 10 kills and five blocks. Cadence Milligan produced 30 assists and nine digs as, defensively, Kanami LaClair had 18 digs and Sophia Zoghby 16 digs while matching Claire Trevisani’s four kills.
Bishop Grimes was victorious last Monday, sweeping Institute of Technology Central 25-14 in the first set and 25-18 in the other two sets.
Ava Christodolou finished with 10 assists, her passes often going to Kayla Duenkel, who led the front line with five kills, adding five aces and five digs. Chloe Dailey also had five aces as Gianna DiNiro earned four aces.
Against Hamilton two nights later, Grimes lost the first set 25-20 and the second 25-10, recovered to pull out the third set 25-23 but saw the Emerald Knights close it out 25-19 in the fourth, led by Annabelle Merkt’s 14 kills and Megan Crowell getting 22 assists, six aces, six kills and eight digs.
