North Tonawanda Looks To Build Around Experienced 2027 Core

Overview

• North Tonawanda comes off a 2-13 season in the published HighSchoolSports.org results and begins a new year under Coach Hilary McAndrew.
• The roster includes several Class of 2027 players with varsity experience, including Mason Crago, Chase Crago, Braxton Vaillancourt, Nicholas Spencer, Charles Colletta and Owen Holdaway.
• Early schedule markers include Niagara Falls, CSAT, Starpoint and Niagara Wheatfield before the calendar turns to October.

North Tonawanda Boys Volleyball Pre-season Preview

North Tonawanda enters the boys volleyball season with a roster built heavily around the Class of 2027 and a chance to turn returning varsity experience into a steadier fall.

Coach Hilary McAndrew’s group is coming off a 2-13 season in the published HighSchoolSports.org results, with Rob Albert as assistant coach after serving as head coach last year. The next step for North Tonawanda will be finding consistent production from a group that includes multiple seniors with varsity experience.

That returning group includes outside Mason Crago, libero Chase Crago and setter Braxton Vaillancourt, each with experience from both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. Setter Nicholas Spencer, defensive specialist Charles Colletta and middle Owen Holdaway also return from last season, giving North Tonawanda experience across several areas of the rotation.

The current roster also includes Brady Yanacek, James Brown and Liam Terry at outside, Drin Sopi and Dex Heuser in the middle, Marc Miller on the right side and Draven Greene at setter. That gives North Tonawanda options at the pins, in the middle and in the ball-control spots as the season settles in.

North Tonawanda’s schedule starts with a road match at Niagara Falls on Sept. 9 before the home opener against CSAT on Sept. 15. A trip to Starpoint follows on Sept. 17, and Niagara Wheatfield visits North Tonawanda on Sept. 23.

October brings another run through familiar opponents, including home dates with Niagara Falls on Oct. 6, Williamsville South on Oct. 14, Kenmore on Oct. 20 and Lockport on Oct. 27. Road matches at CSAT, Niagara Wheatfield and Grand Island also sit in the closing stretch of the listed schedule.

For North Tonawanda, the preseason story is straightforward: lean on a senior-heavy group with varsity background, sort out roles around that core and build a more competitive rhythm as the schedule unfolds.