Two of the area’s winter high school girls volleyball teams met up with each other last Monday night, and East Syracuse Minoa got the best of it, needing just three sets to put away Manlius-Pebble Hill.
Part of the problem for the Trojans was that it had not played a match in 11 days since a Dec. 1 four-set loss to Cortland. As for the Spartans, it was returning from a shorter break, but it was still nearly a week since ESM swept Faith Heritage on Dec. 6.
As it turned out, the opening set was pivotal. With both sides fresh and energized, it went back and forth until, at 24-24, ESM gained the serve and then closed out the set 26-24. From there, the Spartans claimed the next two sets by more comfortable 25-18 and 25-17 margins.
Isabella Talarico put together 17 assists to anchor ESM’s efforts. Up front, Aubrey Williams had eight kills, while Gillianne McCarthy gained four kills. Meghan Mulligan added two kills as, defensively, Sophia Zacharek and Arrica Williams gained six digs apiece and Williams picked up four digs.
This set up an important match two nights later between the 3-1 Spartans and Chittenango, but even on its home court, the Spartans could not put together long strings of points during a 25-19, 25-16, 25-18 loss to the Bears.
Talarico worked her total to 24 assists, passing it to a well-balanced front line where McCarthy got nine kills, Aubrey Williams six kills and Kailyn Boland six kills, with Zacharek adding four kills. Claire Marin got seven digs, just ahead of Samantha Wysoki and Arrica Williams, who earned six digs apiece.
Chittenango stayed in front by having Megan Mayer and Tyla Cutrie each put up 11 kills and Mayer add seven digs in front of Shelby Maring, who had 18 assists, and Tiffany Scofield, who added 13 assists. Alyssa Bates had five kills and nine digs as Mya Streiff earned 14 digs.
ESM did recover Friday night to sweep Rome Free Academy 25-11, 25-14, 25-22. Only the third set proved tight as McCarthy put away 10 kills and Zacharek had five kills to go with three aces. Maring added four aces as Talarico got 19 assists and Aubrey Williams earned three kills and three blocks.
