ONONDAGA COUNTY – All season long the Baldwinsville girls volleyball team has faced serious challenges from many different Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division rivals and turned them all back.
Improving to 10-0 overall, the Bees took on Fayetteville-Manlius Tuesday and, after a strong start, again nearly found itself pushed to the match’s limit before winning in four sets.
A close first set went 25-22 in B’ville’s, leading to a 25-17 second-set effort. But the Hornets were able to win the third in another 25-22 decision and pushed the Bees in the fourth set, too.
Still, by a 25-21 margin B’ville closed out the match, having seen Amelia Hahn and Mallory Offredi both gain seven kills and Hahn earn 12 digs, Offredi adding nine digs.
Natalie Dauphinais and Avery Davenport, with four kills apiece, added further front-line depth. Madison MacKaig passed to all of them with 31 assists and Aubrie Morris got seven assists.
F-M had several standouts, too. Kalyna Dannenberg collected 16 kills and 22 digs, Malana Noble adding 15 kills and 12 digs. Olivia Tom added seven kills and six blocks, with Kara Evans getting five kills as Laila Duggal amassed 43 assists to go with 11 digs.
In boys volleyball, B’ville, who broke an eight-match winless streak by knocking off Cicero-North Syracuse on Oct. 11, did not wait as long for victory no. 2.
The Bees, in fact, got it in the very next match, an impressive 25-12, 27-25, 25-20 sweep of Central Square where a first-set romp was followed by a tense second set.
Once B’ville cleared it, though, it put the Redhawks away led by Nate Mekker’s nine kills and 13 assists. Ryan Levy put up 10 kills, with Mike Naprawa adding six kills. Liam Brogan and Nico D’Elia earned four kills apiece and Chase Johnson notched three kills as he helped Mekker on the back line with 16 assists. D’Elia added four blocks.
Reality hit a bit on Friday when Jamesville-DeWitt, the two-time state Division II champions sporting a 41-match win streak, beat the Bees in three sets 25-16, 25-9, 25-22.
At least a competitive third set provided some boost for B’ville as Levy gained 10 kills and Naprawa six kills, with Mekker nearly equaling Levy thanks to his nine kills and tacking on 13 assists, just behind Johnson’s total of 16 assists. Justin Diep gained five digs.
Home all through next week, the boys Bees face Living Word Academy, Oswego and Fayetteville-Manlius, while the B’ville girls, after yet another tournament appearance in Horseheads, meets West Genesee and Henninger to close its regular season.
