ONONDAGA COUNTY – What the Cicero-North Syracuse boys volleyball team had shown taking a set off reigning state Division II champion Jamesville-DeWitt on Sept. 28 was that it had a top gear it could reach.
Yet in the Northstars’ lone head-to-head match last week, everything proved a challenge, C-NS needing plenty of perseverance and poise to get past East Syracuse Minoa in four sets.
It was the Spartans getting the opening set 25-23, earning the important late points. The Northstars absorbed this and built enough of a cushion in the second set to take it 25-21.
Then came the third and fourth sets, each of them tense and close. What made the difference was that, late in both sets, C-NS was able to get just enough power to win them 25-23 and 26-24 to take the match and improve to 7-3 overall.
Carter King put away 22 kills, helped up front by Joey Lukasiewicz’s eight kills and Luke Wieczorek’s six kills as Colin Dietz had three blocks to go with three kills. On the back line, Jack Waite had 39 assists and Josh Luce earned 13 digs.
On ESM’s side, Donovan Randall got 35 assists as Tyler Quarry and Austin Betts had nine kills apiece. Jacob McGuigan got eight kills, Ryan Sullivan adding five kills. Jayce Domres had seven digs to go with four kills and Tommy Clonan earned 11 digs.
Liverpool set out on Wednesday to avenge a Sept. 5 four-set defeat to Baldwinsville, only to have the same thing happen again.
Having lost the opening set 25-20, the Warriors rebounded and controlled the second set, winning it 25-17. Then the two sides went back and forth through the third and fourth sets.
However, B’ville got most the important points and won those sets 25-23 and 25-22 to claim the match, overcoming 33 assists from Kellen Conway, who passed it to Jack DeForge (11 kills), Sean Frawley (nine kills) and Ben McHerron (seven kills) as Chase Loveless had five kills and Cody Badger four kills.
For B’ville, Ethan Davenport earning 11 kills and Xzavier Vanderstuow nine kills. Brendan Micho, aside from his 12 assists, managed five kills and three aces, Nate Mekker delivering 20 assists and Justin Diep improving to 13 digs.
C-NS played last Saturday at a tournament in Penfield and goes to Shenendehowa for another tournament this Saturday after facing Shaker on Friday. The Northstars would meet B’ville on Wednesday in between Liverpool’s road matches at Oswego and Fayeteville-Manlius.
