This afternoon, the volleyball team ran their consecutive league match winning streak to 31 games with a dominant 3-0 sweep of Solomon Schechter to improve to 5-0 on the season.
The Bears immediately grabbed control in the first ever volleyball match-up between the two schools as Ava McCormick scored a kill to ignite a 7-0 spurt. Niamh Scanlon followed with three consecutive aces as the Bears raced out to a comfortable cushion. The Lions scored their first point of the match to make it 7-1, but McCormick answered with her second kill and Lily Middlekauff followed with three straight aces to push the lead to 11-1. A Lilly Keegan kill that painted the left sideline extended the Bear advantage to 15-4. Schechter responded with a point, but the Bears scored the last 10 points of the game, highlighted by four Keegan aces, before Joan Bamgboye closed the 25-5 win with a kill.
Game two began much as the first did, with the Bears snaring early control. Niamh Scanlon served up an ace to open the scoring and McCormick followed with another kill and a spike. Scanlon registered two straight aces and Middlekauff and McCormick registered consecutive kills and the Brook led 7-0 in a blink. The Lions gained a point to make it 7-1, but that would be their only score of the game as the Bears reeled off the final 18 points. Middlekauff took over the serve with the score at 8-1 and registered nine aces over the rest of the game while Keegan and McCormick each notched multiple kills to propel the Bears to an emphatic 25-1 win.
In game three, the Bears may have relaxed a bit as the Lions took their first lead of the match at 3-2. A kill and an ace from McCormick gave the Bears the lead back at 4-3, but Schechter was still hanging around at 10-8, having scored more in game three than the previous two games combined. However, the Bears would right the ship and score the next 15 points to close out one of their most lopsided victories during their unprecedented stretch of dominance. Schechter could do nothing to absorb Scanlon’s serve as she fired five more aces while McCormick added three more kills and Middlekauff contributed a deft touch kill as the Bears closed out the sweep, 25-8.
The Bears are back in action on Monday in a key match-up at Long Island Lutheran that could decide the regular season championship and the top seed in the PSAA tournament.
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