The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

That saying held true in the second round of the PSAL ‘B’ tournament as two of the top five seeds - No. 4 Riverdale/Kingsbridge and No. 5 Adams - were upset by underdog squads, and another highly regarded team, third-seeded Banneker, was taken to the limit by No. 14 Bronx Leadership.

Three double-digit seeds advanced to today’s quarterfinals at Hunter College in Manhattan.

Here’s a look at the weekend’s second-round action:

No. 3 Banneker 2, No. 14 Bronx Leadership 1

Bronx Leadership nearly upended undefeated Banneker before bowing out in a three-set loss.

The Wolves played the No. 3 seed close in a 25-20 first-set loss, then hit their stride in the second set, winning, 25-21, on the strength of two 4-0 runs.

The Lady Warriors held an early eight-point lead in the third set, but Leadership rallied to tie the set at 23, and pressed the set into extra points before losing, 28-26.

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It isn’t much of a secret, at least not to coach Tricia Palotti. She knows her Bayside girls’ volleyball team has a tendency to play to the level of its opponent. She saw its bad side in a two-set loss against middling PSAL Queens 6-A opponent Townsend Harris on Oct. 15.

“We definitely shouldn’t have lost,” Palotti said.

But when the Commodores are playing against high level of competition, they’re quite formidable. On Sunday, they were very good. Bayside beat Kennedy, 25-20, 16-25, 25-21, in the final of JFK’s host tournament in the Bronx. Kennedy was ranked No. 2 in the PSAL in last week’s FiveBoroSports.com top 10.

The Commodores had two second-place finishes in tournaments this season: one at Cardozo and the other at the first Seward Park tourney.

“They were tired of coming in second place,” Palotti said with a laugh.

Bayside, which is 6-3 in Queens 6-A, swept Kennedy and Hillcrest in pool play and defeated Lehman in the tournament’s semifinals.

“They played a very consistent game,” JFK coach Iris Bromfield. Read more..

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Rob Bennett for The New York Times

Nadine McNeil will compete in her fourth marathon, but it will be the first for her 18-year-old son, Tyler, who is autistic.

Nadine McNeil will reach the crest of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge on her handcycle soon after 7:30 Sunday morning. Moments later, she will roll swiftly past her 18-year-old son, Tyler, who is autistic. This will be her fourth marathon, and Tyler’s first. She has grown uneasy this week thinking of the moment when she will leave him behind.

“I can’t look back,” she said. “For 18 years, I’ve always known every moment where Tyler is. On Sunday, I won’t.”

Though joint parent-child appearances in the New York City Marathon are not uncommon — Rod Dixon, the race’s 1983 champion, is returning this year to run the race with his daughter — the path that brought Nadine, 42, and Tyler to the marathon is an unlikely one. Nadine had a stroke when she was 8 and lost the use of her right arm and her right leg. Tyler, her only child, is severely speech-delayed. Even now at 6 feet 4 inches, he communicates verbally by using one or two words at a time. Read more..

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