ONONDAGA COUNTY – At least for now, the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team is proving that all paths to a championship in the area Class AAA ranks still runs through them.
When the Bees met Liverpool Wednesday night for their first head-to-head encounter since last November’s Section III final, it started fast and never quite let the Warriors recover from it, prevailing in four sets.
All through the first set B’ville served well, keeping Liverpool off balance and rolling to a 25-15 win. And though the second set was a lot closer, the Warriors could only cut the margin in half as the Bees took it 25-20.
On the brink of a sweep, though, B’ville wasn’t quite able to end the match, Liverpool withstanding match points and then taking the set 28-26 to drag it to the fourth, where again it was close.
Still, the Bees were able to end the match 25-21, with Addy Garcia especially good on the back line as she put up a season-best total of 23 digs and also had four aces next to Madison MacKaig, who had 18 assists and eight digs. Aubrie Morris helped, too, with seven assists and five digs.
Up front, it was Amelia Hahn putting away 13 kills to go with six digs and a block. Mallory Offredi had nine kills and a block, with Natalie Dauphinais setting a career mark by getting seven blocks as she and Maya Lesinski had two kills apiece.
In boys volleyball, Baldwinsville found itself on Thursday night trying to end the 33-match win streak of two-time defending state Division II champion Jamesville-DeWitt.
The Red Rams proved too much, sweeping the Bees 25-17, 25-12, 25-12 behind 25 assists from Carson Kaelin passing it to Owen Dougherty (12 kills) and Avery Kielbasinski (eight kills) on the front line.
For the Bees, Nate Mekker had a team-best four kills, adding six assists to help Chase Johnson, who had eight assists to go with three kills. Ryan Levy also got three kills, with Justin Diep earning seven digs.
Another Thursday-night match next week has the B’ville boys traveling to Oswego, while the girls, fresh off Saturday’s tournament appearance at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, host Cicero-North Syracuse and West Genesee early before going to the Sept. 28 Victor Tournament.
