CENTRAL NEW YORK – What the Chittenango boys volleyball team proved by sweeping its showdown with previously unbeaten Central Valley Academy on Jan. 26 was that it would take something extraordinary to keep the Bears from sweeping past everyone else, too.
Cincinattus couldn’t alter that trend as Chittenango, wasting little time, bashed the Lions 25-5 in each of the first two sets of last Tuesday’s match before taking the third set 25-12.
All told, the Bears had 20 aces, four each by Seth Boulter and Will Tedford. Jacob Wagner had three aces to go with his four kills as Kai Streeter stepped up, earning 12 kills, while Micah Granata had five kills and three assists.
Cole Thomas got 10 assists, but Logan Bronner did most of the back-line work, earning 16 assists as Kyle Peryer contributed three kills to the front line.
Herkimer was next on Thursday night, with the same lopsided result as Chittenango again stormed to a sweep, handling the Magicians 25-7, 25-9, 25-11.
Thomas mixed in eight aces, nine assists and six kills. Bronner, Jackson Blaszkow and Quinton Hilliker had three aces apiece (the Bears had 23 in all), with Wagner also getting six kills and Hilliker adding five kills. Bronner finished with 13 assists as Blaszkow had a team-best six digs.
This blitz continued Saturday afternoon at Oneida, with Chittenango sweeping the Express 25-9, 25-16, 25-7 as only the second set featured any sustained scoring from the opposition.
Mulholland and Blaszkow put up eight kills apiece, Blaszkow adding three aces to match Hilliker, who put away seven kills. Thomas also had three aces to complement 29 assists, three kills and three blocks as Andrew Uryniak stepped up with six digs and Ryan Thousand had five kills.
Over in girls volleyball, Chittenango had to deal with rebounding from a brutal four-day stretch where it lost consecutive matches to Christian Brothers Academy, East Syracuse Minoa and Camden.
The Bears’ recovery began in last Monday’s lopsided 25-13, 25-9, 25-10 sweep of Onondaga where it served up 18 aces against the Tigers, four each by Alex Sylstra and Caroline Porter.
Julia Spencer paced the Bears with seven kills, while Sylstra had four kills to go with 12 assists and eight digs. Sydney Martin added five assists as Stephanie Huckabee got nine digs and Ally Smith also got eight digs. Huckabee and Porter earned three kills apiece.
The regular-season finale against Weedsport went a bit longer, Chittenango dropping the second set 25-20 after winning the opener 25-15, but then taking the third and fourth sets by 25-11 and 25-18 margins.
Sylstra had 14 assists and 16 digs, Martin adding 12 assists. Huckabee stepped up with 10 aces to go with eight kills and 14 digs as Spencer put away 12 kills and Porter had six kills. Smith managed five kills and 13 digs.
