Section III boys volleyball playoff preview: Favorites, contenders, players to watch in Division I, II

Syracuse, N.Y. — The Section III fall boys volleyball playoffs begin Monday with a pair of quarterfinal games.

They continue with the Division I semifinals on Wednesday and the Division II semifinals on Thursday.

Then the champions for both divisions will be crowned on Saturday at Cicero-North Syracuse High School.

Division I (bracket)

The favorite: Top-seeded Liverpool only has two losses to Section III opponents this season. One was an early-season loss to Fayetteville-Manlius. The Legends did get their revenge with a 3-1 victory over the Honets on Oct. 20. The second was against Division II’s Jamesville-DeWitt.

The challenger: Fayetteville-Manlius enters the tournament with the No. 2 seed and as the only Section III Division I team to beat the Legends this season. That matchup on Sept. 15 went five tightly contested sets. The Hornets also defeated Division II perennial powerhouse Jamesville-DeWitt on Oct. 27.

The dark horse: Fourth-seeded Syracuse has a tough road ahead, but if it can get past Baldwinsville, which it bested in both of their regular-season matches this year, and it can bring its best stuff against No. 1 Liverpool, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this team holding the championship banner on Saturday.

Players to watch: Baldwinsville’s Chase Johnson (22 aces, 276 assists, 43 digs), Michael Naprawa (168 kills, 52 digs); C-NS’s Jack Copeland (32 aces, 177 kills, 18 blocks, 111 digs), Kevin Greer (22 aces, 203 kills, 23 blocks, 105 digs), Kevin Huynh (313 assists, 86 digs); F-M’s Ben Resig (24 aces, 252 kills, 23 blocks, 124 digs), Patrick Horton (10 aces, 585 assists, 26 blocks, 77 digs); Liverpool’s Keagan Misencik (22 aces, 191 kills, 351 assists, 29 blocks, 82 digs), Chase Loveless (18 aces, 208 kills, 89 digs); Syracuse’s Giovanni Ortiz (17 aces, 37 kills, 438 assists), Ethan Nguyen (17 aces, 222 kills, 70 digs).

Division II (bracket)

The favorite: Top-seeded Jamesville-DeWitt has been the standard in Section III boys volleyball. The Red Rams will be seeking their fourth straight sectional title and their third state championship in four years after falling just short of a third straight state title last season.

The challenger: East Syracuse Minoa and Living Word Academy will be vying for a chance to knock the Red Rams off their thrown. The teams split their two regular-season matchups and both games went five sets.

The dark horse: Oswego is the true definition of a dark horse, with the fourth-seeded team only having two wins on the year. Both of the wins came against the Buccaneers’ quarterfinal opponent, Central Square.

Players to watch: Central Square’s Cullin Findlay (33 aces, 163 kills, 174 digs), Kevin Scheuer (8 aces, 306 assists); East Syracuse Minoa’s Brody Vollmer (35 aces, 618 assists, 125 digs), Joe Gardner (23 aces, 208 kills, 92 digs), Anthony Fogel (315 digs); J-D’s Luke Schaefer (30 aces, 110 kills, 98 digs), Owen Dougherty (21 aces, 154 kills, 211 assists, 100 digs), Carsen Kaelin (15 aces, 278 assists, 87 digs), Zach Hildreth (19 aces, 187 digs); Living Word Academy’s Jeremiah Plewak (45 aces, 380 kills, 77 digs), Gabriel Prosser (33 aces, 721 assists, 88 digs), William Connor (17 aces, 210 digs); Oswego’s Edward Kuzawski IV (234 kills, 78 digs), Zachary Truell (15 aces, 382 assists).