Girls varsity volleyball

Although most of the high school sports teams have been relatively quiet during the Christmas break, the girls varsity volleyball team has been quite busy.  

On Tuesday, Dec. 27, the team took part in the Laidlaw Volleyball Tournament hosted by Canastota High School. The schools competing that day were placed into two pools. The “white” pool which was won by, appropriately enough, Whitesboro, and the “maroon” pool won by the host school, Canastota. Old Forge took part in the “maroon” pool. With a 4-8 record for the day, Old Forge ended up in a tie for fifth place with New York Mills and Living Word Academy.  

The team’s play was spotty, but, they did get some good action against some fine teams. Coach Jessica Brownsell received some top flight play from both Jessica Menges and Daria Orekhov, with Menges making the all-tourney team.

On Thursday, Dec. 29, the team hosted Owen D. Young in a league contest. ODY did not have enough girls for a junior varsity game, which meant that the jayvee team had no action during the week as an earlier contest scheduled with Little Falls was postponed.  

The Webb team played well enough to even their league record at 2-2 by defeating ODY in four games; 26-24, 21-25, 25-17 and 25-19. Menges had five aces, seven kills and one dig; Orekhov had eight aces and 11 assists; Jordan Levi had two kills and two digs, and Sarah Branch had one kill and three digs.  

Brownsell has hopes that by participating in the tough tournaments that they have, that it will improve the play of her team and lead to an even more successful second half of the season.