Four area girls volleyball teams began their seasons in the waning days of November, two of them against each other.
In that head-to-head contest Tuesday night, Christian Brothers Academy swept East Syracuse-Minoa in three sets.
The Brothers, who went 10-4 a season ago and reached the Section III Class B semifinals before falling to South Jefferson, won a tight opening set over the Spartans 27-25.
Given momentum from that win, CBA rolled through the second set 25-15, and held off ESM’s attempts to extend the match by claiming the third set 25-22.
On the back line, Kelly Bewley led the Brothers with 10 assists, while Claire Gollegly had seven assists, plus three kills and three aces. Sophie Racciatti had six kills, five aces, three blocks and two digs as Becky Scullin also had six kills. Marisa Hamel contributed four aces and three kills.
In defeat, ESM’s Kaitlin Shaughnessy still managed 23 assists, feeding it to Danielle Steigerwald, who had eight kills, plus Rachel Aird (five kills) and Morgan Sokolic (four kills).
CBA would also beat Jordan-Elbridge in four sets 25-16, 22-25, 25-9, 25-23. Gollegly had 18 assists, four aces and four kills, with Hamel adding eight kills, nine digs and four aces. Racciatti combined six aces with four kills as Bewley had nine assists, five digs and four kills and Kara Dell’uomo chimed in with seven kills.
ESM would get into the win column Thursday, beating Hannibal in four sets 25-17, 20-25, 25-7, 25-15.
The Spartans dominated the latter stages as Shaughnessy got 23 assists, four aces and three kills. Steigerwald had 13 kills and 10 aces, while Amanda Cannoro contributed five kills and Aird backed up her four kills with four aces.
Jamesville-DeWitt debuted on Wednesday, and beat Hannibal in four sets. Sonia Narispur, with 18 assists, and Madi Alfieris, with 10 assists, worked on the back line with Lexi Lerman, who recorded six digs.
Up front, Jenna Hayward put away 15 kills, while Carly Neugebauer had eight kills. Laura Wildridge (five kills), Taylor Bierwagen (four kills), Veronica Dyke and Kristina Gitzen (three kills each) helped out, too.
The Red Rams lost Thursday to Homer 27-25, 25-17, 25-21. Hayward managed eight kills, helped by Kristina Gitzen (five kills), Bierwagen and Veronice Dyke (four kills each) on the front line as Narsipur got 10 assists and Alfieris added six assists.
Bishop Grimes swept past Cato-Meridian 25-10, 25-13, 26-24 in last Tuesday’s opener. Taylor Bourdon impressed with 12 aces, creating points as Abby Rogers recorded 14 assists. Ashley Morgan and Mackenzie Thompson both had five kills, with Morgan adding three aces and two digs. Nm,
Grimes then got a 25-12, 25-16, 25-23 win over Blessed Virgin Mary Thursday night, Rogers picking up eight assists as Thompson and Emmaleigh Enderle gained four aces apiece. Bourdon served up three aces.
