ONONDAGA COUNTY – It’s fair to say that the Baldwinsville boys volleyball team took plenty of positive energy out of its Section III Division I playoff experience, even if it was stopped short of reaching the championship round.
The no. 4 seed Bees met no. 5 seed Liverpool in last Monday’s opening round and, just like it had done twice in the regular season, defeated the Warriors in four sets.
Here, B’ville lost a tight opening set 26-24, but roared back to win the second 25-15 and took the third 25-18. And just when Liverpool appeared ready to push the match to the limit, the Bees earned the key points to win 25-22.
Brayden Kudarauskas had his best day on the front line, pounding out 22 kills as Ethan Davenport helped with 11 kills, two blocks and four aces and Xzavier Vanderstuow finished with eight kills.
Working on the Bees’ back line, Nate Mekker managed 14 assists and Brendan Micho had 10 assists, to go with four kills. Justin Diep again paced the defense, earning five digs.
Now it would try to avenge two regular-season losses to top seed Fayetteville-Manlius in the semifinals, but it never got close to scaring the Hornets.
F-M took the first set 25-17 and the second set 25-18, and then finished it off 25-14 in the third set, led by Connor Sugar’s 27 assists and five blocks as Chris Cleary (11 kills) paced the Hornets’ front line.
Micho and Mekker still had 15 assists apiece, while Davenport led with nine kills. Vanderstuow managed eight kills, Kudarauskas got seven kills and Micho had five kills, with Logan Rodriquez earning three kills.
B’ville finished its season with a 7-12 record, while F-M went on to the sectional final, where it lost in three sets to Cicero-North Syracuse, the Northstars avenging its defeat in the 2022 sectional final and two regular-season losses to the Hornets.
