Four matches in a five-night span would provide a busy conclusion to a remarkable regular season for the Chittenango girls volleyball team – and while the opponents were quite good and things got nervous at times, none of its foes could stop the Bears from improving to 15-1.

It included the season’s most dramatic match against East Syracuse Minoa last Tuesday night. Two points from a defeat in four sets, the Bears somehow got out of that jam and, once it did, managed to defeat the Spartans in five.

When Chittenango prevailed, 25-13, in the opening set, all looked fine. But ESM got even, 25-21, in the second set and then claimed a closely fought third set 25-23 to move out in front, putting the Bears in danger.

During the fourth set, Chittenango fell behind, 19-12, but then reeled off a 7-0 run to tie. Unfazed, the Spartans answered with four straight points, only to see Chittenango come back again and tie it, 23-23. Twice, the Bears could not convert on set points and moved closer to defeat, but at 25-25 it pulled ahead again and, finally, closed it out, 27-25, prolonging the match.

This seemed to break ESM’s spirits, and it was also playing its second five-set match in as many days, having edged past Cortland the day before. Perhaps with a bit more energy, the Bears cruised through the final set 25-12.

Up front, Megan Mayer had 13 kills, to go with seven digs, while Tyla Cutrie earned 12 kills and four aces. Emily Wood, in addition to a team-best 24 digs, got eight kills and three aces, while Julie Carosella, Allison Choi, Mya Streiff and Ashley Young earned four aces apiece.

Young, with 18 digs, and Streiff, with 16 digs, offered defensive help with Young. Allie Cerio put together 23 assists, nine digs, three kills and two aces, while Hannah Bailey had 18 assists, eight digs, and also got three kills and two aces. For ESM, Isabella Talarico had 30 assists, while Kathryn Mangovski offered up nine kills and 13 digs.

A night earlier, Chittenango met Fabius-Pompey Monday night, who sported a 12-3 record. The Bears claimed the opener 25-16 and then withstood strong performances by the Falcons in each of the next two sets to prevail by slim 25-23 and 25-21 margins, completing the sweep.

Bailey earning 15 assists, five digs and two kills, with Cerio adding 13 assists, eight digs and four kills, and she got lots of help up front, too. Wood had eight kills, adding eight digs. Cutrie proved quite impressive, too, piling up a season-best 12 aces as Young produced five digs and Streiff finished with four digs.

Right after the battle with ESM, Chittenango had to go to Christian Brothers Academy Thursday and had enough energy to prevail there, rolling through the first two sets 25-6 and 25-17 before a 25-21 defeat in the third set got the Bears alert again, and it routed the Brothers 25-14 in the fourth.

Wood gained 12 kills and five digs, often getting passes from Cerio, who had 21 assists, plus five aces and three kills. Bailey added seven assists, five kills and three aces as Cutrie gained six kills and Young chimed in with eight digs.

And then Chittenango fought off fatigue to sweep Manlius-Pebble Hill 25-10, 25-21, 25-16 on Friday night. Young, with five aces and six digs, set her own tone as Cutrie got six kills and Mackenzie Stevens five kills. Cerio got nine assists, three aces and five digs, with Bailey adding six assists and three kills. Streiff and Wood had five digs apiece.

Still undefeated going into the week, Chittenango’s boys volleyball team added to that win total last Monday night against visiting Westmoreland, wasting little time putting together a 25-14, 25-12, 25-6 sweep over the Bulldogs.

All told, the Bears had 21 aces, six of them from Zane Garvey, who also earned seven kills. Seamus St. Leger had five aces and five kills, with Rob Howard earning eight kills to go with his four aces.

Mike Culkin contributed three aces as Grant Czarnecki gained six kills. Tyler Howard earned 17 assists, but got some help on the back line from Justin Makowski, who earned six assists. Holden Lalor had three kills and Tom Rooney got two kills and two assists.

A night later, Chittenango earned another three-set victory, proving just as dominant against Central Valley Academy as it rolled past the Thunder 25-12, 25-9, 25-19.

Here, the Bears earned a full set’s worth of points (25) from aces, again with Garvey at the forefront as he put away seven aces to go with five kills. Rob Howard and Rafael Silva each got five aces as Howard earned six kills and Silva three kills.

Cooper Young and Tyler Howard both finished with five assists and three aces, with Makowski earning a team-best eight assists. Lalor had two aces and two kills. Czarnecki also picked up two kills.

Mount Markham was the opponent on Friday night, and after Chittenango won the opening set 25-10, the Mustangs picked off the second set 25-22, only to see the Bears fight hard to win the third and fourth sets by 25-20 and 25-22 margins to stay unbeaten.

Tyler Howard blended in 31 assists, 11 kills and three aces. Czarnecki stepped up with 15 kills, while St. Leger had six kills and 11 digs. Rob Howard contributed seven kills and Lalor added five kills, with Young (seven digs) and Mike Culkin (eight digs) making defensive contributions.