ONONDAGA COUNTY – What remained for the Liverpool and Cicero-North Syracuse girls volleyball teams was a head-to-head match Friday night to see who had the upper hand in this long-time rivalry.
As it turned out, it was still the Warriors in charge, the result of a three-set victory far more convincing than the five-set decision it claimed against the Northstars back on Sept. 24.
Each of the first two sets were well-fought, but ended 25-21 in Liverpool’s favor. Not wanting any part of a C-NS comeback, the Warriors controlled the third set and closed it out by a 25-18 margin.
Lola Sageer’s 17 kills paced the Warriors as she added nine digs. Nya Pedrosa earned five kills, with Madison Ames and Katie Lebiedzinski earning four kills apiece. Ames added 12 digs, just behind Lily Correll’s total of 16 digs as Georgia Spuches earned 17 assists and eight digs, Josie Shaw contributing 13 assists.
On the Northstars’ side, Kendall Rumble’s 18 assists went to a front line where Grace Murray managed nine kills and Grace Turrell had seven kills. Grace Schmid led the defense with eight digs, with Rumble and Allison Navarra each getting five digs.
Both teams had played the night before, and Liverpool was quite impressive against Westhill, taking just three sets to put away a team that went to the state Class B finals a year ago.
The key was the opening set, Liverpool able to pull it out 25-23 and then, over the next two sets, doing enough to win them by 25-17 and 25-19 margins.
C-NS, meanwhile, went up against Fayetteville-Manlius, losing in four sets as it was unable to avenge a five-set defeat to the Hornets late in September.
After dropping the opener 25-16, the Northstars pulled out a tight second set 28-26 after several set points. F-M went back in front 25-19 in the fourth and, despite C-NS getting within two points of going further, it lost the fourth 26-24.
F-M’s standouts included Kalyna Dannenberg, who had 24 kills and 25 digs, and Laila Duggal, who amassed 47 assists and 20 digs as Malana Noble (12 kills, 27 digs), Olivia Tom (11 kills) and Larah Schepp (24 digs) also stood out.
Liverpool, less than a week removed from its five-set defeat to Baldwinsville, ran into West Genesee Tuesday night and earned a three-set victory over the Wildcats.
Sageer earned 13 kills and 13 digs, with Ames getting seven kills and 15 digs. Spuches, with 12 assists, split setting duties with Shaw, who had 11 assists and 10 digs. Correll equaled Ames’ 15 digs, Pedrosa getting 10 digs and Natalia Nederveld adding thee kills.
