True, the Cicero-North Syracuse boys volleyball team has kept its place atop the CNY Counties League – but Baldwinsville is starting to catch up. While the Northstars swept the Bees in their first head-to-head meeting early in September, it took four games for CNS to win again on Wednesday night – and the start was far from smooth. Seven times in the opening game, CNS serves crashed into the net or flew long, giving B’ville lots of free points. From a 15-15 tie, the Bees went on a 9-3 run, fended off a couple of game points, then prevailed 25-21 when yet another Northstars serve found the net. Gradually, the Northstars’ front-line power, personified by Ethan Irish, Tyler A. Smith and Billy Werksman, began to assert itself in the second game. Though an early 12-6 lead nearly got away, CNS regained the serve at 14-13, then closed strong to win, 25-18, and even the match. They were tied, 5-5, in the third game when the Northstars took off on a 7-1 run, never to get caught as it again prevailed 25-18 to take the lead in the match. But the fourth game proved more difficult. Try as it could, the Northstars simply could not get away as B’ville stepped up its level of play and nearly forced the match to the wire. But at 23-23, CNS won back the serve, and on match point a Bees kill shot went long to end it. Irish finished with 24 kills, while Werksman gained 11 kills and Smith had 10 kills. Jim Coleman fed all of them with 43 assists, an average of better than 10 assists per game.