Now as the regular season nears its conclusion, the area’s winter high school girls volleyball teams each wanted to find good form with the Section III playoffs ahead.

East Syracuse Minoa, again a contender in Class A, would face Cortland last Tuesday night, and won the first set 25-16, only to drop the second set to the Purple Tigers 25-21.

That seemed to anger the Spartans, who dominated the third and fourth sets by 25-9 and 25-12 margins to close it out, with Isabella Talarico amassing 23 assists.

Aubrie Williams had nine kills, four blocks, four aces and five digs. Riley Abbot had seven aces,five kills and five digs as Gillianne McCarthy added seven kills. Franchesca Polcaro gained six kills as Kat Boland had three kills and Arrica Williams finished with four digs.

And this set up a big match Thursday between ESM and Whitesboro, who had given the Spartans one of its two defeats of the season in a four-set battle back on Dec. 14.

Wanting to get even with the Warriors, ESM instead met the exact same fate, unable to build on a narrow 26-24 win in the first set as Whitesboro won the second set 25-16 and then claimed the third and fourth sets by equal 25-20 margins.

Talarico earned 19 assists, with McCarthy getting nine kills and four blocks as Aubrie Williams had seven kills and Polcaro got six kills and seven digs. Abbot added three kills and four digs.

Whitesboro’s Erin Herrmann put up 30 assists, five aces and 11 digs, her passes going to Marissa Burke (13 kills) and Hayey Lawter (10 kills) as Morgan Buczek had six kills, three aces and 13 digs. Natalia Dzeravenets had 14 digs and Jessica Blaszak added 10 digs.

A Friday rematch between ESM and Cortland was, this time, swept by the Spartans 25-12, 25-16, 25-21 as Talarico finished with 12 assists and three aces, with Aubrie Williams earning six kills and McCarthy five kills.

Christian Brothers Academy would meet Port Byron Thursday night, a team it lost to in five sets on Dec. 4. The rematch was also competitive, but the Panthers needed just three sets to beat the Brothers 25-17, 25-19, 25-23.

Catherine Burns finished with six kills and four digs, while Delaney Della Donna had three aces and four kills. Anna Jenkins had 11 assists and Kristen DeLorenzo gained seven digs. Nadia Edley (10 kills)  and Olivia Martens (13 assists) led Port Byron.

CBA went from there to facing a Chittenango side that had not lost a set this season before getting swept by Tully earlier in the week. The Bears recovered from that to sweep Cato-Meridian and then, against the Brothers, handled them 25-15, 25-20, 25-14.

However, in Saturday’s match against Weedsport, CBA survived a five-set battle to prevail. The Brothers won the opener 25-16 and the third set 25-22, with the Warriors getting the second set 25-13 and, two points from defeat, pulling out the fourth 27-25. The Brothers controlled the final set and won the match 25-13.

To start its week, Manlius-Pebble Hill hosted Port Byron last Monday night and took a 25-19, 25-12, 25-10 defeat to the Panthers.

Ren Brown led the Trojans with eight assists and six digs. Mariah Rinaldi also had eight digs as she and Halle Erwin both produced three kills. Ermma Purce had 10 digs and two aces. For Port Byron, Olivia Martens had 15 assists and Edley earned eight kills.

MPH’s next match came against Fabius-Pompey 24 hours later, and the Falcons swept the Trojans 25-19, 25-14, 26-24, only the third set proving close.

Erwin amassed 10 kills to pace MPH’s front line and had nine digs, the passes coming from Brown, who had 15 assists, seven digs and three kills.

Liza Bruno gained 13 digs as Rinaldi and Anna Szombathy had six digs apiece. Much of F-P’s work was done by Delaney Horst (16 kills), Kennedy Ederle (20 assists) and Natalie Durocher (15 digs).

MPH played Thursday and lost to Onondaga 25-10, 25-11, 25-13. Bruno had 10 digs, with Szombathy adding seven digs. Erwin and Purce had six digs apiece as Brown recorded eight assists and three kills, with Rinaldi also earning three kills.

Yet another match with Port Byron on Friday, the Trojans lost 25-19 decisions in the first two sets and 25-7 in the third, Rinaldi getting six kills and seven digs as Brown had 10 asists.