CENTRAL NEW YORK – Maybe having its 23-match win streak broken by Central Valley Academy on Jan. 14 was the best possible scenario for the Chittenango boys volleyball team.
Free from the pressure of a long win streak and not having to worry about sustaining another undefeated season, the Bears promptly swept its next two opponents, Canastota and Westmoreland, and continued that good work into last week’s stretch of three matches in four days.
Mount Markham fell first, Chittenango breezing through a 25-12 opening set and then working harder to take the next two sets by 25-22 and 26-24 margins.
Jackson Blaszkow led the front line with 11 kills and earned six aces. Ryan Thousand got nine kills, with Logan Mills earning seven kills and Jacob Wagner six kills to go with three aces. Logan Bronner recorded 32 assists as Blaszkow (12 digs) and Thousand (11 digs) paced the defense, Wagner adding seven digs.
This was the first of five consecutive road matches, with the Bears visiting Vernon-Verona-Sherrill on Friday night and, after battling past a 27-25 opening set, taking the next two sets over the Red Devils 25-19 and 25-20.
Again Bronner settled on 32 assists, this time getting nine digs to match Blaszkow, who put up a team-best 13 kills. Thousand earned nine kills, with Mills getting eight kills and Karwoski earning five kills.
Then, at Oneida on Saturday afternoon, Chittenango again needed just three sets, handling the Express 25-12, 25-9, 25-19. Blaszkow managed 12 kills and nine digs, Thousand getting 10 kills and Mills seven kills while Bronner for the third match in a row earned 32 assists, adding six digs.
Meanwhile, in girls volleyball Chittenango dropped its second five-set match of January when it fell to East Syracuse Minoa, who won its 11th match in a row.
When it rolled through the first set 25-13 the Bears appeared ready for a big night, but the Spartans won the next two sets by 25-20 and 25-11 margins.
Recovering well, in the fourth set Chittenango again had a lopsided 25-13 win, but it was ESM immediately taking charge in the final-set race to 15 points, ultimately taking it 15-8 led by Leah Rehm’s 47 digs and Kristina Levkovich’s 34 assists. Morgan Palmer had 13 kills as Erin Murnane and Katelyn Davis had 11 kills apiece.
In Friday night’s match against Faith Heritage, the Bears prevailed in four sets to move its record to 7-5 overall after a 25-10, 25-13, 25-14 sweep of Pulaski the night before where Maddie Eastman had eight kills and Julia Spencer got seven kills, Annabelle Granata adding five kills as Hannah Cretaro had six assists and Taylor Velardi five assists to go with eight digs. Eastman earned five aces and Carmella Furco contributed three aces.
