Of all its regular-season matches, none for the Bishop Grimes girls volleyball team might mean as much as when it takes on its crosstown private-school rivals from Bishop Ludden.
They squared off last Thursday night, and the Cobras had to feel a bit of disappointment in the wake of a five-set defeat to the Gaelic Knights.
Grimes won the opening set 25-18, only to get run over by Ludden 25-9 in the second. Even when the Cobras won a hard-fought third set 25-22, the Gaelic Knights rallied again, 25-21, in the fourth.
The final set went back and forth just like the match did, but Ludden got the points in the end to win it, 25-23, seeing Aurora Deshaies put away 24 kills, Sarah Morrell earn 38 assists and Emma Catalano produce 17 digs.
On Grimes’ side, Raquel McDonald earned 15 kills, six digs and four aces, with Abbey Clapper adding seven kills. Audrey Hathaway finished with 23 assists as she and Mara Gutchess both got five digs and Becca Vinciquerra added seven digs.
This followed, by 24 hours, Grimes’ match against Syracuse Academy of Science, which didn’t take too long as the Cobras swept the Atoms 25-8, 25-12, 25-12.
Clapper had four of Grimes’ 16 aces, adding four kills. Gutchess and inciquerra each got three aces as Gutchess also earned four kills. All of them helped McDonald (eight kills) and Hathaway (17 assists) in Grimes’ effort.
Elsewhere in girls volleyball, Jamesville-DeWitt won 25-15, 25-17, 25-19 over Central Square last Tuesday as Madeline Ferris not only produced 32 assists, she got seven kills and six digs.
Linda Shen had a team-best 12 kills, adding five aces, while Skylar Hardt picked up eight kills and, on defense, piled up 22 digs. Fiona McNeil matched Ferris, earning seven kills, while Elsa Hardt contributed six kills.
Now the Red Rams faced Fulton on Thursday, and improved to 8-3 by taking out the Red Raiders, winning the first and third sets 25-17 and the second set 25-20 in between.
In addition to her 24 assists, Ferris notched five aces, eight digs and four kills. Getting a double-double, Shen had 12 kills and 11 digs, with LeClair adding 14 digs as Hardt picked up seven kills and Cara Glazier had seven digs. McNeil had three aces, three kills, three blocks and four digs as Erica Schwedes contributed four digs.
Fayetteville-Manlius was not challenged by Corcoran last Tuesday night. The 25-7, 25-17, 25-9 sweep of the Cougars included Morgan Napier’s 10 assists and Sophie Thomas adding nine assists.
Up front, Rachel Quilty-Koval, Sonja Napolitano and Harper Stoppacher each had four kills, with Mackenzie Hemler notching three aces and four digs. Nina Avery and Juliana Myagkota each got two aces.
It was similar when F-M dropped Henninger 25-12, 25-13, 25-17 on Thursday night to improve to 10-1 overall.
Stoppacher led the front line with 10 kills as Napolitano had six kills and Broddus got five kills. Napier earned 22 assists as Quilty-Koval earned six digs, with Avery joining Broddus in earning five digs.
