CENTRAL NEW YORK – Once wasn’t enough, at least when it came to the East Syracuse Minoa boys volleyball team getting the best of its neighbors from Fayetteville-Manlius.
The two sides battled last Monday night and the Spartans emerged with a four-set victory over the Hornets, just as it did in their initial meeting on Sept. 9.
Nearly a full month of action had shown ESM’s quality, and it was steady and consistent throughout the first two sets, grabbing them by 25-20 and 25-17 margins.
F-M managed to avoid the sweep by pulling out the third set 25-22, only to have the Spartans roll through the fourth set 25-17 to end it as Donovan Randall finished the night with 39 assists and Tommy Clonan got 12 digs.
Up front, ESM again was quite balanced. Jacob McGuigan’s 12 kills were just ahead of Ryan Sullivan’s 10 kills and five blocks as Tyler Quarry got nine kills, Caleb Byrd earned eight kills and Rocco Cambareri stepped up with six kills.
To lead F-M, Ben Resig had a match-high 18 kills, with Charlie Schroder and Joseph Perry getting eight kills apiece. Ethan Wong added four kills as Patrick
Horton gained 23 assists working with Nathan Houck, who had 18 assists. Matt Crisafulli led the defense with nine digs.
Still for ESM, the big prize remains Jamesville-DeWitt, whom it met Tuesday night after following up the F-M win by handling Cicero-North Syracuse 25-17, 25-15, 25-16.
Against the Northstars McGuigan landed 11 kills and Byrd had seven kills, Randall and Cambareri earning five kills apiece. Randall finished with 32 assists and Clonan led the defense with 11 digs, Anthony Fogel adding six digs.
Then, in Friday’s match against Midlakes (Section V) ESM got a 25-22, 25-20, 25-17 sweep, improving as the match went along as Randall got 20 assists feeding it to McGuigan (seven kills), Quarry (six kills) and Sullivan (five kills).
F-M, meanwhile, found itself in an exciting match with Syracuse City, seemingly in control when it won each of the first two sets by equal 25-17 margins.
However, Syracuse, two points from defeat, pulled out the third 25-23, won the fourth 25-21 and then went back and forth with the Hornets throughout a long final set before a dramatic match point gave Syracuse the 18-16 win.
Earning 53 assists, Horton saw Resig put away 24 kills and Schroder earn 18 kills, with Wong adding seven kills and Chris Noel five kills. Schroder had 11 digs to pace the defense.
When ESM got its turn against Syracuse on Saturday it won in three sets 25-18, 25-20, 25-16 to improve its mark to 12-2. The balance between McGuigan, Quarry (11 kills each) and Sullivan (10 kills) proved quite effective as Randall earned 38 assists and Clonan produced 13 digs.
J-D handled Oswego last Wednesday night in its only match of the week, though it had to rebound from a second-set defeat to put away the Buccaneers in four 25-16, 21-25, 25-13, 25-14.
Avery Kielbasinski did it all, from putting away 23 kills to serving up eight aces to getting a team-best 10 digs. Chine Okereke helped out with six kills, while Carsen Kaelin set up most of those points due to his 35 assists.
