ONONDAGA COUNTY – Something had to give when the red-hot East Syracuse Minoa boys volleyball team challenged its dynastic neighbors from Jamesville-DeWitt in last Tuesday night’s early-season showdown. As it turned out, the Red Rams were the ones who stayed in charge, running its win streak to 33 consecutive matches and taking just three sets to defeat the Spartans. The first set proved important, not because J-D won it, but by the margin it did, a 25-16 decision which forced ESM to step up in a way it did not have to yet this fall. Both the second and third sets did prove close. However, the Rams won the crucial points and took those sets 25-22 and 25-21. a match where Carsen Kaelin really stepped into his own. Having replaced Tim Cooper as setter, Kaelin set a new career mark with 42 assists, the passes often going to Avery Kielbasinski, who bashed 18 kills. Owen Dougherty had 11 kills, Chinemerem Okereke eight kills and Nevin Cosbey six kills as Okereke and Cosbey both had three blocks and Kielbasinski three aces. Mostly for ESM, it was Donovan Randall, with his 31 assists, going to Jacob McGuigan for 15 kills and Tyler Quarry for 13 kills. Defensively, Caleb Byrd had 12 digs and Ryan Sullivan got nine digs, Tommy Clonan adding seven digs. J-D kept it up Thursday with a 25-17, 25-12, 25-12 romp over Baldwinsville where Dougherty had 12 kills and seven digs and Kielbasinski got eight kills to go with eight digs. Kian Sarmast stepped up with five kills and five digs, Kaelin passing to all of them thanks to his 25 assists. Okereke finished with four kills. ESM went from here to knocking off Liverpool Thursday night, a remarkable result given how the Warriors, 5-0 going into the match, dominated the first set 25-11. But when the Spartans pulled out a 25-23 win in the second, it led to a long third set with several set points on both ends before ESM won it 29-27, carrying that over into winning the fourth set 25-21 to end the match. Quarry picked up 14 kills, with Sullivan getting nine kills, McGuigan eight kills and Clonan five kills in front of Randall, who remained steady with 30 assists while earning three aces. And that happened as Fayetteville-Manlius, getting some payback for a painful defeat in the 2023 sectional Division I final, beat Cicero-North Syracuse in three close sets. All the sets followed the same pattern – close and hard-fought, and the Hornets getting the clutch points, doing so winning the first 25-23 and, in longer second and third sets, taking them 27-25 and 26-24. Ben Resig put away 12 kills, Charlie Schroder adding eight kills and five blocks. Tommy Horton earned 28 assists, tying Schroder and Matt Crisafulli each getting five digs. Back on Tuesday night, F-M had its own match with Liverpool and lost 25-18, 25-18, 25-14. Most of Horton’s 18 assists went to Resig, who had 10 kills. Charlie Schroder got five kills and Nathan Houck three kills, with Crisafulli adding six digs. After it beat C-NS, the Hornets did not have a letdown Saturday against Living Word Academy. A 25-11 first-set romp was followed by a 25-15 second-set loss, but F-M won the third and fourth sets by 25-18 and 25-14 margins. Horton got 30 assists here, with Resig earning 14 kills and Schroder improving to 10 kills. Crisafulli paced the defense with eight digs, Horton adding seven digs and Resig six digs. Ethan Houser and Ethan Wong had three kills apiece.