In the last week of the regular season, each of the area’s high school girls volleyball team continued to meet with wildly varying degrees of success.
East Syracuse Minoa, coming off a four-set defeat to Whitesboro on Jan. 25, rebounded last Monday night against Port Byron, putting together a 25-22, 25-16, 25-12 sweep of the Panthers.
Shaina Brilbeck earned 24 assists, while a balanced Spartans front line featured Aubrie Williams picking up 10 kills as Riley Abbot and Gillianne McCarthy had six kills apiece. McCarthy added three blocks as Franchesca Polcaro got four kills and six digs.
A night later, against Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, ESM handled the first set 25-16 and, once it outfought the Red Devils 26-24 in a close second set, closed it out 25-21 in the third for the sweep.
With her 20 assists, Brilbeck passed it to Polcaro, who had seven kills to go with seven digs. Also, Abbot, McCarthy and Aubrie Williams gained six kills apiece, Abbot adding nine digs and Polcaro five digs as Isabella Talarico returned and got four assists.
And in Thursday’s regular-season finale against Oneida, the Spartans zoomed past the Indians 25-10, 25-16, 26-24, only struggling in the third set as Talarico, resuming full-time duty on the back line, got 15 assists and four digs.
Mostly, it was Williams benefiting from Talarico’s presence as she amassed 15 kills. McCarthy and Abbot had three kills apiece as Abbot and Polcaro both finished with five digs.
Christian Brothers Academy had lost in five sets to Whitesboro on Jan. 26 despite Virginia Nash earning 13 kills and Anna Jenkins getting 26 assists. Kristen DeLorenzo amassed 37 digs plus eight aces as Marina Hatem contributed 12 digs.
As a follow-up, CBA hosted Onondaga last Monday, and while never letting things get too far away, the Brothers were still swept by the Tigers 25-17, 25-20, 25-19.
Anna Jenkins had eight assists, with Kristen DeLorenzo picking up 15 digs. Logan Congel had four kills and two blocks, with Catherine Burns and Virginia Nash each getting three kills and three aces.
Delaney Della Donna also had three kills, plus five digs, the same total as Burns. OCS featured Samantha Geis, with 30 assists, feeding it to Danielle Field (11 kills), Julia Wachna (nine kills) and Katie Marcy (seven kills) as Gabby Oswald earned 15 digs.
Meeting Pulaski Wednesday night, CBA swept the Blue Devils, each set close, but the Brothers prevailing 25-21 in the first set and 25-23 in each of the next two sets.
DeLorenzo’s 21 digs and Jenkins’ 20 assists set up all kinds of points as, up front, Congel, with nine kills, and Nash, with eight kills, led the way. Burns got four aces, plus 10 digs and two kills as Marina Hatem had sixdigs and three aces.
Manlius-Pebble Hill had back-to-back matches, starting Thursday against Cato-Meridian where it lost the first two sets 25-12 and 25-20, and prolonged the match 25-17 in the third set before the Blue Devils closed it out 25-17 in the fourth.
Ren Brown was busy on the Trojans’ back line, earning 18 assists and 10 digs. Sara Smith had seven kills, with Mariah Rinaldi adding six kills as Anna Szombathy also had 10 digs and Rinaldi got eight digs. Liza Bruno had three kills and six digs.
Then MPH took on Faith Heritage Friday, a private-school rivalry that went the distance. After dropping the first set 26-24, the Trojans won each of the next two sets by narrow margins of 26-24 and 25-23.
And though the Saints won the fourth set 25-19, MPH dominated the final set 25-15 to earn its second win of the season , and the other one was also a five-set decision over Faith Heritage back on Dec. 8.
