ONONDAGA COUNTY – All that the Liverpool girls volleyball team has worked on in the 2023 season has built up to the opportunity it now possesses to win the Section III Class AAA championship.
And the Warriors go into the sectional tournament as the top seed and unquestioned favorite after two regular-season victories over powerhouse Baldwinsville, the latter of them a four-set battle last Tuesday night at Baker High School.
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 Sarah LaTocha and Madison Ames equaled each other with five kills and Elliana Vangelov got four kill.s
There were several defensive standouts, too. Lily Correll got 30 digs and Ames added 19 digs, with Vangelov earning 12 digs and Sageer getting 10 digs. They all took their turns working next to Addie Tanton, who earned 16 assists, and Allyson Crandall, who aside from her 11 assists also earned 11 digs.
All of this made Thursday night’s four-set defeat of West Genesee (who will be in Class AA for the sectional playoffs) a bit easier to take.
They split the first two sets, WG getting the opener 25-21 and the Warriors taking the second 25-19. Recovering well, the Wildcats got the third set 25-20 and then played its best in the fourth, beating Liverpool 25-15 to clinch the match.
To lead WG, DeVore earned 14 kills and three blocks, helped by Isabella Vallely’s seven kills and three blocks. Cami Zajac’s 17 digs led the defense as Sonya Dunham recorded 15 assists and Sidney Hamilton added 11 assists.
A night earlier, Cicero-North Syracuse went to Marcellus and, though pushed hard in the second and third sets, still was able to get a 25-17, 26-24. 25-23 sweep of the Mustangs.
But the Northstars lost in four sets to Fayetteville-Manlius on Thursday, pulling even in a 25-22 second after dropping the opener 25-21, only to have the Hornets go 25-16 and 25-22 in the next two sets to end it.
With her 23 assists, Kendall Rumble passed it to Grace Murray and Piper Adams, who each had eight kills, and Grace Turrell, who had six kills. Allison Navarra had 22 digs as Gabrielle Penizotto had four blocks to go with three kills. Ava Zerillo (40 assists) and Rebekah Beasley (17 kills) paced F-M.
The sectional Class AAA semifinals on Nov. 1 has Liverpool facing Henninger as C-NS, the no. 3 seed, challenging B’ville, the no. 2 seed. Winners of those matches head to Jamesville-DeWitt for the Nov. 3 sectional final at 8 p.m.
