CENTRAL NEW YORK – What had now built itself to a 37-match win streak was on the line Thursday night when the Jamesville-DeWitt boys volleyball team hosted Fayetteville-Manlius.
And though it would go to four sets the Red Rams again were victorious, reestablishing local bragging rights over both of its closest neighbors in consecutive weeks after beating East Syracuse Minoa on Sept. 17.
Both of the first two sets here were tight ones. J-D pulled out the opener 25-22, but F-M did enough in the third set to hang on and win 25-23 to pull even.
The Rams rolled in the third set 25-16, and then kept its poise even as the Hornets charged in the fourth and nearly sent the match to the limit, ending it by a 25-22 margin.
Earning 38 assists, J-D’s Carsen Kaelin passed up front to where Avery Kielbasinski and Chine Okereke were both situated as they each finished the night with 14 kills. Owen Dougherty added nine kills and nine digs, Kian Sarmast also getting nine digs as he and Nevin Cosbey both recorded four kills.
F-M’s Charlie Schroder set a season mark putting away 20 kills to help Ben Resig, who had 12 kills. Ethan Wong added four kills as Patrick Horton worked everywhere on the back line earning 37 assists and 11 digs.
J-D had played twice in the week leading up to the match, starting with Monday’s 25-15, 25-13, 25-21 sweep of Oswego where Kaelin burned the Buccaneers to the tune of 34 assists.
Kielbasinski managed 12 kills and Dougherty got 10 kills, while Sarmast recorded four kills. Daniel Nemi led the Rams’ defense with six digs, Kaelin adding five digs as Dougherty and Owen Hildreth had four digs apiece.
Facing Syracuse City a day later, J-D dominated the first set 25-12 and earned a 25-22 win on the second, not quite able to get a sweep as it lost the third 26-24 but then handling the fourth set 25-15 to close it out.
Kielbasinski augmented his 21 kills with four aces, Okereke stepping up with 12 kills and three blocks. Coseby got seven kills as Dougherty and Dan Nemi had five kills apiece, all of them recipients of passes from Kaelin who had 48 assists, a new career mark.
Meanwhile, F-M tuned up Tuesday by taking just three sets to defeat Central Square 25-18, 25-14, 25-11. Horton earned 27 assists passing it to a well-balanced front line where Chris Noel led with six kills, Resig adding five kills as Wong and Atsuto Urao each got four kills.
After it beat F-M, J-D swept Living Word Academy in a match that included a long 34-32 third set after the Rams won the first two sets by margins of 25-22 and 25-16. Most of Kaelin’s 36 assists went to Kielbasinski, who along with his team-beset nine digs got 21 kills as Okereke had seven kills, Sarmast six kills and Dougherty five kills.
East Syracuse Minoa, whose only loss this season was to J-D on Sept. 17, followed it up by sweeping Division I front-runner Liverpool and then doing the same Monday against Living Word Academy.
The Spartans’ 25-15, 25-16, 27-25 sweep of the Lions was only stressful in the third set as Tyler Quarry had 12 kills and Ryan Sullivan had 10 kills. Jacob McGuigan earned seven kills and Caleb Byrd six kills to go with a team-best eight kills as Donovan Randall, passing to all of them, gained 33 assists.
Another sweep followed against Oswego 24 hours later. The 25-21, 25-15, 25-17 romp of the Buccaneers had Randall earning 37 assists while, up front, McGuigan gained 15 kills and Quarry 10 kills. Sullivan managed eight kills and Byrd, for the second match in a row, finished with six kills.
