In the first of two regular-season encounters, the East Syracuse-Minoa girls volleyball team put away its neighbors from Jamesville-DeWitt last Thursday night, prevailing over the Red Rams in a three-game sweep.
Needless to say, the Spartans were eager to get on the court. ESM had seen three possible season-opening matches – against Onondaga, Cato-Meridian and Phoenix – get postponed, either by schedule changes or by weather.
The massive snows from earlier in the week, in fact, had kept ESM (who went 9-10 a season ago) from even practicing – but that didn’t keep the Spartans from taking quick control against J-D.
In the first game, ESM prevailed 25-16, and though the next two games proved a bit closer, the Spartans still topped the Rams by margins of 25-19 and 25-21.
Paige Holt finished with 14 assists, her passes going to Danielle Steigerwald and Laura Adams, each of whom had five kills. Emily Rossi had three aces and Charlotte Visser added three kills. J-D saw Jess Butler pick up five kills and Jenna Hayward four kills, with Sonia Narfipur (six assists) and Michele Dallalah (five assists) working on the back line.
Meanwhile, Christian Brothers Academy, off last season’s 13-5 run, began on Thursday with a 25-22, 26-24, 25-15 win over Hannibal.
Though the first two games proved tight, the Brothers moved in front and stayed there. Claire Goleggly had 16 assists, two kills and two digs, as Sophie Racciati got six kills and four aces. Ivanka Tamnycky had five kills, three aces and three digs as Kara Dell’uomo also earned five kills.