All has gone quite well for the East Syracuse Minoa girls volleyball team since dropping its opening match of the season to Whitesboro before Thanksgiving.
The Spartans’ December tear continued last Monday night, at Utica Proctor, where it made a long road trip but did not have to spend much time on the court, sweeping the Raiders 25-13, 25-14, 25-10.
Shaina Brilbeck and Riley Abbott each produced six aces, Brilbeck finishing with 10 assists as Abbott produced four kills. Olivia Fortuno was close behind, augmenting her five aces with three kills and three blocks, with Gillianne McCarthy adding three kills.
Now ESM looked for its sixth win in a row Thursday night against its fellow Spartans from New Hartford, but were stopped short of that goal in a four-set defeat.
After taking a 25-17 defeat in the first set, ESM won the second set 25-19. The third set proved pivotal, with both Spartans side missing chances to go in front, but then New Hartford claimed the set 27-25 and went on to win the fourth 25-16.
Abbott led a balanced ESM front line with 11 kills and nine digs as McCarthy got 10 kills and Fortuno earned nine kills. Franchesca Polcaro had eight digs to go with her five kills.
Feeding all of them, Brilbeck earned 29 assists, plus four digs, joining Natalia Pucharoni with four digs apiece. New Hartford’s Marie Winn had 27 assists, five kills, 15 digs and three aces to lead her side.
Christian Brothers Academy was back on the court last Tuesday night against Pulaski, with the Brothers having little trouble in a 25-18, 25-10, 25-21 sweep of the Blue Devils.
Anna Jenkins proved the focal point for CBA thanks to her 17 assists. She also had three aces, the same total as Kristen DeLorenzo, who produced 10 digs and four kills.
Delaney Della Donna served up five aces as Grace Glowaki had a team-best five kills. Jaedyn Congel matched DeLorenzo’s four kills as Anisa Williams and Bella Roberson earned three kills apiece.
Manlius-Pebble Hill got painfully close to its first win of the season last Tuesday night, but fell in five sets to Faith Heritage.
Two nights later, against Cortland, the Trojans were swept by the Purple Tigers 25-17, 25-19, 25-11, though Ren Brown did give MPH nine assists, four kills and seven digs.
Halle Erwin also had four kills, with Natalie Storie and Claudia Cook getting five digs apiece. Cortland got eight kills from Kayci Olson and seven kills from Lexi Zacek as Grace Call had 12 assists.
