The St. Patrick-St. Vincent High girls varsity volleyball team enjoyed its most satisfying victory of the season after dumping host Albany on Tuesday, 25-21, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23.
It was the first time the Lady Bruins had won so much as a set against Albany since 2012 and the first time SPSV beat the Lady Cougars since 2006. The fact SPSV’s victory came at Albany made the result even more shocking.
“We all just really wanted this game,” said SPSV senior Julia Kistner, who had never beaten Albany in her high school career. “It was time for us to beat them.”
The Lady Bruins relied heavily on senior Malia Bolko, who came through with 25 kills, 21 digs and four blocks. Teammate Isabel Villalobos also had a strong match with nine kills and 13 digs.
The win upped SPSV’s record to 19-12 overall and 6-3 in the Tri-County Athletic League, tied with Albany for second place behind unbeaten St. Joe’s (9-0 TCAL).
There were several moments Tuesday where it looked like Albany would resume its usual dominance over SPSV and take control of the match, but the Lady Bruins withstood every barrage the Lady Cougars threw at them.
“Whenever we’d lose a point, we’d stay focused and we did a really good job of limiting their service runs,” said Kistner, who had 22 digs for SPSV. “And once we got ahead of them, we just kept it going and didn’t give up.”
Halle Webster added seven kills and eight blocks for the Lady Bruins, who close out the TCAL regular season Thursday at Salesian. Kristina Manuel had 16 assists and 10 digs, Catherine Cortez added 16 assists and five digs, Nikki Lumauod had six digs and a block, and Taylor Castro had three kills.
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