CENTRAL NEW YORK – Whatever happened when the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team took on Liverpool last Tuesday night, there was a good chance these two sides were not done with one another.
Given the small number of teams in the Section III Class AAA bracket, the chances of the Bees and Warriors meeting with the sectional title at stake were quite good.
Thus, whoever won this match would have the edge going into the post-season – and that would remain Liverpool, who pulled it out in four sets.
Each of the first two sets went 25-19 in the Warriors’ favor. Then B’ville nearly made up the deficit, winning the third 25-18 and, in the fourth set, earning several chance to push the match to a fifth set.
Still, Liverpool won it 29-27 to end the match, having seen Sophie Sageer and Lauren Poland each net 10 kills as Lily Correll got 30 digs and Madison Ames 19 digs next to Addie Tanton (16 assists) and Allyson Crandall (11 assists).
For the Bees, Madison MacKaig earned 24 assists, 12 digs and four kills as Sadie Phelps led the defense with 28 digs. Amelia Hahn managed 13 kills and 12 digs. Natalie Dauphinais had seven kills and two aces, with Mallory Offredi and Nela Loftin getting five kills apiece. Ava Wickes got nine digs and four kills.
All this good work was rewarded two nights later against reigning sectional Class B champion Westhill, where the Bees won the first two sets 25-21 and 25-13, dropped the third 25-19 but then pulled out a 25-22 fourth set to win the match.
With her 34 assists, MacKaig spread it around. Hahn got 12 kills and six digs, Dauphinais adding nine kills and two blocks as Offredi had seven kills and five digs. Sophia Connors stepped up with five kills, Loftin adding four kills. Phelps had 10 dig to go with a pair of aces.
Over in boys volleyball, Baldwinsville attempted to halt state Division II champion Jamesville-DeWitt’s 22-match win streak, only to fall to the Red Rams in three sets.
Though the Bees nearly extended the match in the third, J-D took it 25-19, 25-13, 25-22 as Tim Cooper got 39 assists, passing it to Aaron Ko and Luke McQuaid, who each got 11 kills as Phoenix McBride had seven kills and Avery Kielbasinski contributed six kills.
For B’ville, Ethan Davenport led with nine kills and Xzavier Vanderstuow got seven kills. Logan Rodriquez added four kills as Nate Mekker earned 15 assists and Brendan Micho seven assists. Justin Diep got five digs.
In Friday night’s match with Oswego, the Bees never were able to recover from dropping a 26-24 first set as the Buccaneers claimed the next two sets 25-16 and 25-13.
Davenport finished with seven kills, Vanderstuow adding five kills as Micho, aside from his eight assists, joined Brayden Kudarauskas getting four kills. Diep earned six digs, while Mekker picked up 13 assists.
Three more regular-season matches await the boys Bees next week, all at home, with Fayetetville-Manlius, Cicero-North Syracuse and Syracuse City visiting the Baker High School Gym.
But the girls Bees will practice all week as, with the no. 2 seed in a four-team Class AAA sectional bracket, it will face no. 3 seed C-NS in the Nov. 1 semifinal at 6 p.m. as top seed Liverpool gets Henninger. Winners advance to the Nov. 3 title match at 8 p.m. at Jamesville-DeWitt.
