Only a Section III winter championship and regional championship would provide the ending the Chittenango boys volleyball team wanted for the 2023-24 season – and the Bears would get them both to complete a perfect 21-0 run.
Meeting Central Valley Academy in last Friday night’s sectional Class B championship match, the Bears, even while playing on CVA’s home court, overcame a tough start to prevail in four sets over the Thunder.
All season long, Chittenango had overwhelmed opponents from the moment the first serve went up. CVA didn’t fit into that category, though, hanging close in the first set and then getting the key points late to take it 25-22.
The second set was just as close, but this time it was the Bears claiming the 25-22 decision to pull even, leading to third and fourth sets where its skills would prove too much for CVA as it won them 25-18 and 25-16.
Jackson Blaszkow gained 13 kills and 12 digs. Rodger Mulholland and Ryan Thousand each had nine kills, with Jacob Wagner getting six kills.
As always, Cole Thomas fed all of them with his deft passes, accumulating 37 assists, while Andrew Uryniak led the defense with 16 digs ahead of Mulholland’s 14 digs. Wagner had eight digs and Thomas seven digs.
Less than 24 hours later, Chittenango found itself in the Class B regional final at Maple Hill High School, taking on Section II’s Ichabod Crane, and it was the most dramatic match of all.
This time the Bears won the opening set 25-19, but the Riders took the second 25-22 before Chittenango won the third 25-20 and found itself just a couple of points from victory in the fourth.
But after a series of set and match points, Crane won that fourth set 29-27, and a final-set race to 15 points would decide it. Tested as never before, the Bears would inch in front and, at match point, finally win it 15-13.
Thomas needed 44 assists to go with four aces and five kills. Blaszkow got 14 kills and 21 digs, with Thousand earning 12 kills and 13 digs. Mulholland and Quinton Hillkier had 11 kills apiece, Mulholland tacking on 12 digs, just behind Wagner’s 13 digs as Uryniak managed 16 digs and Seth Boulter 13 digs.
Chittenango earned its berth in the sectional final by sweeping Rome Free Academy in last Tuesday’s semifinal round, though the circumstances certainly helped.
RFA was not even 24 hours removed from a wild five-set first-round match with Utica Proctor where it trailed 10-2 and 13-4 in the final-set race to 15, stormed all the way back and, after several missed match points, won it 22-20.
Fresh and rested, the Bears quickly put the Black Knights away, winning the first two sets by 25-9 and 25-7 margins before it took the third set 25-17 to close it out.
Thomas piled up 33 assists, an average of 11 assists per set, to go with two aces, two kills and a block. Blaszkow served up seven aces, adding a team-best eight kills and six digs.
Mulholland, Thousand and \Hilliker had six kills apiece. Wagner and Kai Streeter each got four kills as Mulholland earned eight digs, ahead of Boulter and Micah Granata both earning seven digs.
