Spartans Spell-checked in loss against Cardinals

LYNN – The St. Mary?s volleyball team ran into a tough test on Wednesday afternoon in the form of Cardinal Spellman, which earned an impressive 3-0 road win over its Catholic Central League rival.A forgettable middle set (11-25) failed to diminish a pair of Spartans rallies in the first and final sessions, which earned Coach Erin Menard?s praises despite coming up just short at 22-25 and 23-25 respectively.?I?m extremely proud of the girls? efforts today,” lauded Menard, whose team is back at it today, on the road at Austin Prep. “Playing from behind the entire match wasn?t easy but we hung in there and made a couple of tremendous comebacks against a very strong opponent.”Set No. 1 saw the visitors jump out to a 23-11 lead after reeling off seven consecutive points, including the fifth and sixth kills from junior hitter Katherine Carrel, who totaled a game-high 20 finishes. The hosts responded with a three-point spurt before junior Francesca Simon put on a clinic, tallying five aces and a service point, helping cut the deficit to just two before the Cardinals prevailed on an unforced error.?Frankie saved us at times today and her serving really brought us back in that opening set,” said Menard of the Marblehead native. “She continues to improve and has become a weapon for us when we need service points.”In the finale, Spellman held leads of 6-1, 10-2 and 15-5 before the Spartans found their pulse once more.Trailing 18-10, sophomore Amanda Idusuyi, who had been held in check through the opening two sets, finally broke through with three kills to even the score with help from senior Jessica Martiniello, who tallied as many aces.?I felt that Spellman was avoiding putting the ball in Amanda?s direction early in the match,” said Menard. “She had a couple of big blocks in the first set and from there they tended not to go back at her.”Idusuyi finished with five total kills in the match.An exchange of points led to Carrel?s final kill, which preceded consecutive unforced errors that left the Cardinals one finish away.St. Mary?s (5-5, 1-3) used a kill from senior Sabrina Trask (2 total) to make it 23-24 before freshman Kaitlyn Gunet (3 kills, 2 aces) capped the victory.Set No. 2 was controlled from start to finish by Carrel, who totaled nine kills to go along with 11 combined Cardinals aces.