For a long time, the mere idea that the Christian Brothers Academy girls volleyball team could even stay close to Tully, much less beat the Black Knights, was absurd.
All that has changed this season, though, as the Brothers demonstrated last Monday night when it put together a four-set victory over the Black Knights.
Tully saw its long-time head coach, Denise Abbott, retire after the 2017-18 season. Under new head coach Jeremy Cook, the Black Knights started with five straight wins, all sweeps, before a five-set defeat to Onondaga on Dec. 10.
CBA saw all this and, playing at a high level, beat Tully 25-21 and 25-19 in the first two sets. The Black Knights claimed the third 25-19 and were on the brink of forcing a fifth set before the Brothers, at 24-24, got the serve back and converted match point to win 26-24.
East Syracuse Minoa rebounded from a Dec. 13 defeat to New Hartford by going to Oneida last Monday and rallying from a two-set deficit to stun the Indians in five.
All went right for Oneida in the first two sets, the Indians pulling out the opener 25-23 and rolling through the second 25-11 as Jamie Jones was on her way to 20 kills and Zoey Fox was getting 33 assists, plus 14 digs
ESM absorbed all this and, in the third set, prevailed 25-19 to keep it alive before winning the fourth set 25-16. Now even, the Spartans returned to the 25-19 margin to win the fifth set and complete its comeback.
Gillianne McCarthy had 17 kills and five digs, with Olivia Fortuno adding 10 kills. Riley Abbott and Franchesca Polcaro each had six kills as Polcharo got three aces and 13 digs and Abbott earned 10 digs. Shaina Brilbeck gained 26 assists and nine digs.
Manlius-Pebble Hill visited Cato-Meridian last Tuesday night and, after a month of struggles, got its first win of the season, sweeping past the Blue Devils as it won the first set 25-22 and each of the next two sets by equal 25-17 margins.
Ren Brown led the Trojans with 17 assists, five aces and five digs as Claudia Cook got six kills, six digs and two aces. Halle Erwin and Liv Bigtree had four kills apiece as Erwin also managed eight digs and three aces. Sanza Nizam had three aces and Natalie Storie finished with four digs.
A day later, against undefeated Chittenango, MPH lost to the Bears 25-8, 25-6, 25-14, Brown getting six assists for the Trojans as Kate Chaffee had eight digs, Cook five digs and Bigtree four digs.
CBA was back on the court Thursday night, sweeping Fabius-Pompey 25-10, 25-12 and 27-25 to improve its overall record to 6-2 before the holiday break.
