CENTRAL NEW YORK – Like many other area high school teams, East Syracuse Minoa had to go on pause, its match against New Hartford on Dec. 22 postponed until the new year.

At the time, the Spartans were 6-1, and the premature start to its holiday break created some concern about how the team would fare once the break was over.

ESM found out last Monday when it hosted 2-4 Oneida and saw the match get dragged to a prolonged fifth set before it was able to edge past the Indians.

The two sides split 25-21 decisions early and Oneida pulled out a 26-24 second set. Trailing, ESM controlled the fourth set 25-10.

Both sides would get match points in the final set. Not until 27-27 did the Spartans get back the serve for good and then closed it out, 29-27.

The New Hartford match was made up last Tuesday and ESM lost, 25-8, 25-13, 25-10 to that other group of Spartans, who were led by Emma Freidel’s 25 assists and six aces as Taylor Krol got 11 kills and Elise Courto nine kills.

Taking on Camden Thursday night, ESM battled to a 25-23 victory in the opening set before handling the Blue Devils 25-15 and 25-13 in the next two sets for the sweep.

Emily Murnane picked up 14 assists and eight digsto lead the Spartans’ back line. Up front, Autumn Stolia had seven kills, with Akuat Kuany getting four kills and Margaret Mading three kills to go with a pair of aces.

Before the holiday break, Christian Brothers Academy took on Weedsport Dec. 22 and was quite impressive in a 25-18, 25-11, 25-8 sweep of the Warriors.

Molly Niedzwicki picked up five aces and Mia Merola earned four aces. Lily Geneocco had a team-best three kills as Merola gained six digs.

It turned around last Wednesday night when CBA went up against undefeated Tully and took a 25-11, 25-17, 25-13 defeat to the Black Knights.

Georgia Brown did manage five assists and Makenna Schultz got three aces, with Grace Catalano earning three kills and three digs. Tully got 29 assists from Alexa Shay and 10 kills from Emma Byrne.