CENTRAL NEW YORK – Now things really began to heat up for the area’s trio of fall girls volleyball teams.
Bishop Grimes had roared to a 7-0 start, but no match it faced was as important as Wednesday’s s showdown with Hamilton, who sported its own 9-0 record.
And when the Emerald Knights roared through the first set 25-9, the Cobras appeared in trouble. But just as quickly the match turned around.
Starting to settle down, Grimes went ahead in both the second and third sets, winning them both by 25-19 margins. Then, in the fourth, Hamilton threatened to take it further, but at 24-24 the Cobras got back the serve and earned match point to end it 26-24.
Kayla Duenkel led Grimes with 14 kills and 10 digs. Riley Abernethy got 11 kills and six digs, with Olivia Vitale matching Abernethy’s trio of aces and equaling Elizabeth Corl’s three kills.
On the Cobras’ back line, Ava Christodoulou earned 27 assists to go with seven digs. Corl had a team-best 12 digs, Gianna DiNiro adding eight digs. Alivya Packer (20 assists) and Polly Hansen Rodriguez (nine kills, 17 digs) led Hamilton.
As a follow-up Grimes defeated Living Word Academy Saturday 25-7, 25-17, 25-23. Vitale’s five aces set the tone and Christodoulou managed 31 assists, passing it to Duenkel (14 kills), Abernethy (11 kills) and Corl (eight kills) as Corl managed nine digs and Vitale and DiNiro seven digs apiece.
Jamesville-DeWitt again found itself in a battle against main rival Fulton last Wednesday night and, in a five-set classic, fell to the Red Dragons.
Twice, the Red Rams led, taking the first set 25-17 and the third set 25-19. Both times, Fulton rallied, claiming the second 25-18 and its own 25-19 decision in the fourth before a final set where the Red Dragons inched in front and stayed there 15-11.
Merris Kessler stood out for the Rams earning 16 kills. Lyla Commandeur had six kills, with Ellyana Deng and Quinn Pfister getting five kills apiece.
Yeva Balayan had 18 assists and Lacey Phaneuf 13 assists as Hannah Trevisani produced 15 digs, Alana Bates 13 digs and Aaliyah Anderson 10 digs. Fulton’s Bailey Frost had 13 kills and 15 digs as Claire Dempsey got 16 assists and Isabella Rodriguez added 14 assists to go with 10 digs.
Before this, J-D could not quite match up with an SCAC Metro division foe, taking a 25-19, 25-21, 25-18 defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse in last Monday’s match.
Deng managed nine kills and Kessler six kills, with Anderson adding four kills Trevisani’s 11 digs paced the defense ahead of Bates’ eight digs as Balayan got 11 assists and Phaneuf four assists. The winning Northstars got 11 kills from Grace Murray and 25 assists from Kendall Rumble.
Fayetteville-Manlius could not overcome dropping the opening set of last Monday’s match against Liverpool leading to a 26-24, 25-20, 25-14 defeat to the Warriors to fall to 3-2 on the season.
