ONONDAGA COUNTY – When they went head-to-head again last Wednesday night, the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse girls volleyball teams were both full of momentum and confidence gained from what they had done leading up to this match.
All of this made the result a bit surprising – not that the Warriors prevailed to go to 8-2 on the season, but the fact that it happened in a three-set sweep.
As it turned out, the opening set was crucial. C-NS was close, but when Liverpool pulled it out 25-22, it took charge and, in the next two sets, put away the Northstars by scores of 25-12 and 25-18.
Three different Warriors players flourished at the net. Sophie Sageer, Madison Ames and Lauren Poland each finished with 11 kills, Poland tacking on a pair of blocks as Sarah LaTocha added five kills.
Passing it to them, Allyson Crandall registered 20 assists and seven digs, helped by Addie Tanton and her 15 assists, while Lily Correll kept points alive with her 27 digs as Ames got nine digs.
On C-NS’s side, Kendall Rumble had seven assists and seven digs, with Allison Navarra gaining 21 digs. Up front, Grace Murray had six kills, with Hannah George earning five kills and Gabrielle Penizotto three kills.
They were each coming off big wins last Monday night, with C-NS throwing Fayetteville-Manlius from the unbeaten ranks and Liverpool outlasting West Genesee in five sets.
The Northstars were lucky that one of F-M’s top hitters, Kalyna Dannenberg, was out, but it still won the first set 25-19 and, after a 25-11 struggle in the second, claimed most of the key points to win the third set 25-20 and the fourth 25-21 to pull it out.
C-NS got 24 digs from Navarra and 14 assists from Rumble to go with 11 digs. Murray led the front line with 10 kills, helped by seven kills from Piper Adams and five kills from Ellie Blumer.
F-M’s Rebekah Beasley earned 22 kills and 19 digs, while Gretchen Stoppacher managed 10 kills. Ava Zerillo earned 36 assists and Kathryn McNany got 21 digs.
This happened as Liverpool met West Genesee and, twice, fell behind, overwhelmed 25-13 in the first set and 25-11 in the third even as it pulled out the second 25-20.
Another comeback followed in the fourth set, the Warriors winning in 25-18, and in the final-set race to 15 points, Liverpool put away the Wildcats 15-10.
Moving from its loss to Liverpool, C-NS had its own match with West Genesee on Friday and was within inches of gaining a victory before the Wildcats pulled it out in five.
Having lost the first set 25-15, the Northstars won the next two sets 25-18 and 25-22, then in the fourth set found itself getting closer to ending it and gaining its second surprise win of the week.
But WG pulled itself back, won the fourth 28-26 and then dominated the final set 15-8, this despite Murray’s 18 kills and 20 digs and Adams getting 15 kills and 12 digs. Rumble earned 42 assists and 13 digs, Navarra getting 32 digs and Blumer 10 digs to go with her three aces.
