A strong fall campaign continues for the Jamesville-DeWitt girls volleyball team, who moved to 10-1 on the season last week with consecutive three-set sweeps over Homer and Fulton.
First, the Red Rams handled the Trojans last Tuesday night, doing its best work during a 25-17 first set, but also getting the points it needed to win the next two sets by 25-22 and 25-21 margins.
Eva Dougherty piled up 29 assists, her passes often going to Melissa Murphy, who led J-D with both 10 kills and nine digs. Alexandria Payne contributed eight kills, part of a deep front line where Joanna Butler earned seven kills, Alex Frank had six kills and six cigs and Giambacarto Lexie broke through with five kills.
The match with Fulton followed two nights later. Again, J-D, through steady point runs, kept an opponent from getting close, putting away the Red Raiders by scores of 25-17, 25-18 and 25-21.
Murphy upped her totals to 14 kills and 19 digs, with Payne contributing 11 kills and 11 digs. Maddison Newman, with 13 digs, and Teresa Werbowsky, with seven digs, added their own defensive contributions as Butler gained five blocks and Frank earned 17 digs, plus four kills and four aces. Dougherty wasn’t quiet, either, improving to 34 assists and 10 digs.
Fayetteville-Manlius saw its girls volleyball team defeat Central Square in four sets last Monday night. Though the Redhawks won the opening set 25-21, the Hornets turned it around by pulling out a 25-22 second set, followed by 25-19 and 25-17 victories in the next two sets.
Erianna Madill managed 37 assists by night’s end, with Marissa Madill earning 21 digs. Saara Vahtola contributed 12 kills and seven digs, with Paige Hulbert managing 10 kills and four digs. Anna-Lise Stube and Morgan Moliski had six kills and three digs apiece as Annika Knutsen earned six digs and Alexandra Burhle gained three kills and two blocks.
A four-set victory over Henninger followed two nights later, F-M rolling through the first two sets 25-9 and 25-14 before a narrow 27-25 defeat in the third set. But the Hornets ended it, 25-14, in the fourth set as Vahtola got 10 kills, four aces and four digs, with Hulbert adding seven kills and Knutsen earning eight digs to go with six kills. Burhle had four kills and two aces as Erianna Madill had nine assists to complement Markayla Madill’s 22 assists and four aces. Marissa Madill managed 11 digs.
Bishop Grimes, sporting a 9-2 record going into last Tuesday’s match with LaFayette, got humbled in a 25-5, 25-14, 25-14 loss to the Lancers. Though Veronica Ansbrow had seven assists and three kills, and Meghan Vonden Steinen (four kills) and Maria Canzano (six digs) helped out, LaFayette rolled, led by Lauren Gates, who had 24 assists, and Sophia Powless, who had 10 kills.
But the Cobras rebounded to beat Hamilton on Thursday, splitting the first two sets with the Emerald Knights before reclaiming the lead and then avoiding a fifth set by the narrowest of margins in a 25-19, 16-25, 25-21, 28-26 decision.
Again, Ansbrow was at the forefront, earning 16 assists, seven kills, eight digs and four aces. Canzano amassed 19 digs as Bri Squier earned five kills. Vonden Steinen had nine digs, three kills and three aces, with Sarah Schultz mixing in three kills, three assists, four aces and six digs. Spaulding and Kendall Mancuso each got three kills and four digs.
