Though it had to go on the road to pull it off, the East Syracuse Minoa girls volleyball team earned a spot in the Section III Class A semifinals – and a chance to end an epochal win streak.
When the no. 5 seed Spartans defeated no. 4 seed Watertown in four sets in last Friday night’s sectional quarterfinal, it earned a semifinal date with top seed Carthage, who is not only the two-time defending champions, but is also sporting a 56-match win streak. The winner would advance to Saturday’s final at Chittenango High School against no. 2 seed Whitesboro or no. 3 seed New Hartford.
ESM started slowly at Watertown, dropping the first set 25-19, and had struggles in each of the next two sets. Yet the Spartans won them, by 25-22 and 25-23 margins, breaking the Cyclones’ spirit as it closed things out 25-18 in the fourth set.
Gillianne McCarthy led ESM with 13 kills, while Riley Abbot had 10 kills and nine digs. Sophia Zacharek and Aubrey Williams had eight kills apiece as Isabella Talarico earned 29 assists, plus five digs. Zacharek and Claire Maring each got four digs as Samantha Wysocki and Franchesca Polcaro both picked up three digs.
A full season’s worth of tough tests faced by Manlius-Pebble Hill paid off when, as a no. 7 seed, it upended no. 2 seed Blessed Virgin Mary in last Thursday night’s Section III Class D quarterfinal.
The Trojans only received a serious threat in the first set, but it beat that challenge back, topped the Crusaders 25-19 and then rolled through the next two sets, prevailing by margins of 25-15 and 25-14 to complete the sweep.
MPH’s Ren Brown finished with 29 assists, three aces, four digs and two kills, with many of Brown’s passes going to Sophie Novak as she put away 15 kills and also earned six aces, four blocks and five digs.
Liza Bruno contributed six kills and five digs, with Caroline King getting five kills. Maggie Carmen, in addition to her five aces, recorded 17 digs, leading a Trojans defense where Julia Mettler-Grove got 11 digs and Julia Walsh earned nine digs. Anna Szombathy had five digs.
This advance MPH to Tuesday’s sectional semifinal against no. 3 seed Stockbridge Valley, who swept Morrisville-Eaton in its quarterfinal. The winner between the Trojans and Cougars would get to Saturday’s 10 a.m. sectional final at Chittenango High School against top seed and defending champion Remsen or no. 5 seed Fabius-Pompey.
Meanwhile, in the Class B sectional tournament, Christian Brothers Academy, who held the no. 7 seed, saw its season end in its sectional final at no. 2 seed Canastota as the Raiders rolled through the first two sets 25-15 and 25-13 and edged the Brothers 26-24 in the third set to close it out.
Kristen DeLorenzo had 15 digs on a back line where Liz Hucko and Anna Jenkins each got six assists. Sydney Congel did manage five aces, with Catherine Burns earning five digs as she and Logan Congel both had two kills.
For Canastota, Loryn Wilcox had 20 kills and Kara Niles 14 kills as Taylor Kutzula finished with 20 digs. CBA’s season concluded with an 8-7 record.
