Full-time activity for each of the area’s winter girls volleyball teams resumed with East Syracuse Minoa continuing to build upon its early-season success.
The Spartans went to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill last Monday night and prevailed in a sweep, claiming the first set 25-16 and pulling out close 25-22 and 25-23 decisions over the Spartans in the next two sets.
Gillianne McCarthy and Aubrie Williams each put up 10 kills, with Riley Abbot getting five kills to go with four aces. Isabella Talarico gained 18 assists, three kills and two aces as Arrica Williams earned 11 digs. Franchesca Polcaro added four digs as she and Kat Boland each got two kills.
Back home Thursday night to face Rome Free Academy, ESM rolled through the first set 25-13, and then rallied late to pull out the second set 26-24. The third set was close, too, but the Spartans completed the sweep, edging the Black Knights 27-25.
Talarico did a bit of everything, from 22 assists to earning six kills and nine digs. Aubrie Williams managed nine kills as McCarthy and Abbot got seven kills apiece. Williams gained nine digs and Abbot had seven digs.
Christian Brothers Academy met Faith Heritage last Tuesday night, ending a 19-day break and prevailing in three sets over the Saints to improve to 4-2 overall.
Then, a night later, it was the Brothers against Manlius-Pebble Hill. A crucia opening set went 26-24 in CBA’s favor, and that momentum carried over into a 25-14 second set.
The Trojans did avoid a sweep, winning the third set 25-23, but the Brothers earned another 25-14 decision in the fourth set to close it out, overcoming 17 assists by MPH’s Ren Brown.
Also for the Trojans, Sara Smith got seven kills and Mariah Rinaldi added six kills. Defensively, Liza Bruno led with 17 digs, but Anna Szombathy wasn’t far behind, earning 15 digs as Rinaldi finished with 13 digs.
MPH played its first match since Dec. 20 (a span of nearly three weeks) and lost last Monday to Cortland, the Purple Tigers prevailing by scores of 25-16, 25-17 and 25-18. Grace Call had 14 assists for Cortland, feeding it to Amanda Parzynski (eight kills), Natalie Gier and Kayci Olson (six kills each).
A night later, facing Pulaski, the Trojans lost in four sets, though Brown got 20 assists, three aces and 12 digs. Szombathy had 20 digs and Rinaldi 16 digs to go with six kills as Halle Erwin also had six kills. Bruno had four kills and Smith added three kills.
