What has proven an exciting season for the Christian Brothers Academy girls volleyball team has included three matches that have gone the full five sets.
And that included last Thursday’s battle against Port Byron, where the Brothers led twice, but could not hold on to either advantage against the Panthers.
CBA won the opening set 25-21, only to fall in the second set by that same margin as the Brothers rebounded and, in the third set, prevailed 25-16 to go back in front.
Once more, Port Byron had an answer, pulling out a tense fourth set 25-22 and, in the final set, doing just enough to hold off the Brothers in another 25-21 decision.
Bella Roberson still had 16 kills fand four blocks for CBA as Delaney Della Donna and Ashley Brown had six kills apiece. Kristen DeLorenzo amassed 39 digs as Makenna Shultz had 22 assists and Lauren Griffith had eight assists.
Rileigh Gray had 27 assists for Port Byron, feeding it to Miranda Adrich (12 kills, 14 digs), Cassie Nolte (11 kills, 10 digs) and Sophie Redmond (10 kills) on the front line as Gabriella Atchison had 15 digs.
Also on Thursday, East Syracuse Minoa hosted Oneida, and dropped a close 26-24 opening set, unable to recover from that as the Indians then beat the Spartans 25-17 and 25-21 in the next two sets.
Olivia Fortuno got 10 kills for the Spartans, Skyler Mahoney adding six kills and four blocks as Ariana Costanzo had 19 assists, helped by 14 digs from Morgan Ransom and 12 digs from Alana Day. Jamie Jones led Oneida, earning 17 kills, her passes often coming from Zoey Fox, who had 25 assists.
On Saturday afternoon, ESM did defeat Camden 25-6, 25-15, 25-20, to finish its regular season at 6-12.
Mahoney took the lead with her 11 kills, helped by Fortuno and Megan Volz, who each got four kills as Volz also earned three aces. Costanzo fed everyone with 18 assists and Day picked up eight digs.
Manlius-Pebble Hill also lost on Thursday’ night, falling 25-18, 25-12, 25-19 to Faith Heritage as Allie Vargo got 10 kills and Rylie Meier 13 assists for the Saints.
