ONONDAGA COUNTY – With its Fall Swing Tournament now in the books the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team could go back to the usual activity of leaving its SCAC Metro division competition far behind them.
Or at least that was the plan.
Those plans nearly went sideways two different times last week, when the Bees’ two closest neighbors, Cicero-North Syracuse and Liverpool, pushed matches to five set.
C-NS went first last Tuesday night taking a late lead against the Bees and becoming the first league side to push B’ville to five sets.
Having lost the opening set 25-16, C-NS took charge in the second set 25-20 to get even, then emerged from a tense third set to win it 26-24 and get to the brink of an upset.
B’ville pulled itself back, though, claiming the fourth set 25-17 and dominating the final set 15-7 as, up front, Amelia Hahn and Mallory Offredi led the way, Hahn getting 17 kills and Offredi 15 kills.
Madison MacKaig was sensational with 32 assists and 19 digs. Addy Garcia, aside from her 22 digs, served up five aces, while Hahn earned 15 digs. Avery Davenport and Natalie Dauphinias had six kills apiece, Davenport adding three blocks.
For C_NS, Kendall Rumble finished with 30 assists and five kills. Grace Murray got 19 kills and 10 digs, with Grace Turrell and Grace Schmid each netting seven kills and Turrell adding seven blocks. Allison Navarra paced the defense with 23 digs as Piper Adams added 12 digs.
All of this was a prelude to the Liverpool match on Thursday night which took a different course but ended the same, with B’ville on top.
The Warriors took the first set 25-20, but in each of the next two sets the Bees controlled matters by equal 25-17 margins, leading to a fourth set where, two points from victory, B’ville could not end it, Liverpool pulling it out 26-24.
Again, the Bees would win, for though the fifth set was tighter it still got past the Warriors 15-11, led by Hahn’s all-around effort which included 17 kills, 12 digs, four aces and four blocks.
MacKaig finished with 24 assists, adding seven digs, while Offredi had eight kills and Davenport four kills. Liverpool got nine kills, 20 digs and four blocks from Lola Sageer and 23 assists from Josie Shaw.
In boys volleyball, Baldwinsville’s quest for a first win on the season continued, stopped by Syracuse City last Monday in a 25-22, 25-16, 25-21 defeat at Baker High School.
Nate Mekker, with 10 kills and five assists, paced the Bees’ efforts. Chase Johnson got 11 assists, with Ryan Levy earning five kills and Justin Diep excelling on defense with 19 digs. Joshua Leon’s 25 assists for Syracuse went to a balanced front line including Agoth Athian (10 kills), Alex Ervin (eight kills) and Ehkalu Moo (seven kills).
B’ville did get a set from Liverpool in Wednesday night’s match, but that 25-21 decision came after close 25-20 defeats in each of the first two sets and before the Warriors closed it out 25-13 in the fourth.
Up front for the Bees, Mekker had 11 kills to go with his 12 assists. Liam Brogan managed eight kills, Levy and Johnson each getting six kills and Mike Naprawa five kills as Johnson also earned 12 assists. Diep earned 13 digs and Eli Clute contributed nine digs.
B’ville now tried to continue the struggles of Cicero-North Syracuse on Friday night and, at long last, would find the win column, taking a close first set 25-21 and a closer second set 26-24.
Though the Northstars won the third 25-22, by that same score the Bees claimed the fourth and ended its eight-match skid, with Mekker pulling off a rare triple-double of 16 kills, 21 assists and 10 digs.
Levy was strong at the net, too, getting 11 kills as Naprawa finished with nine kills. Nico D’Elia chimed in with six kills as Johnson put up 16 assists with Clute adding five digs.
