Main Line volleyball wrap-up: Merion Mercy volleys past Villa Maria

The Merion Mercy Academy volleyball team (9-1, 6-0) defeated Villa Maria Academy, 3-1, Tuesday, posting scores of 25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 25-20. The Golden Bears were led by Makenna Hallagher (11 kills, .200 kill percentage, 20 digs), Nicole Nowlan (nine kills, three aces), Genevieve Wittrock (nine kills, 0 errors, .375 kill percentage), Annie Butler (10 kills, .385 kill percentage) and Alex Pizzi (30 assists).

In other Main Line high school girls’ volleyball action:

Academy of Notre Dame improved its record to 9-0 with a 3-0 win against Conestoga Sept. 23, posting scores of 25-14, 25-18, 25-19. The Irish were led by Maddie Donaphon (18 digs), Elise Butler (11 kills, eight digs) and Riley Shaak (eight kills, eight blocks).
Baldwin School defeated Springside Chestnut Hill, 3-0, Tuesday, posting scores of 25-14, 25-18 and 25-8, using a strong defensive effort and aggressive attacking. Leading Baldwin (6-3) was Cartier Thomas (23 assists), Laura Pellicano (four aces, four kills, four digs), Haley Tavares (seven kills, four blocks), Georgia Dahm (five kills, eight digs), Elise Kait (four digs) and Maksyla Pratt (four kills).
The Polar Bears took home first place in The Academy of The New Church Invintational Volleyball Tournament in Huntington Valley Sept. 23. Baldwin went undefeated in pool play with straight set wins over, the George School, Bishop McDevitt, Academy of the New Church, then Mast Charter. The Polar Bears then won the semifinals against Bishop McDevitt, 25-14, 25-13, to advance against host Academy of the New Church.
In the championship final, Baldwin started out with strong serving that kept ANC out of system early then held the Lions off with timely kills to finish set 1, 25-20. In set 2, again the Polar Bears got off to a strong start, only to see the Lions close to within a point of Baldwin at 18-17, then the Bears responded to stretch the lead to 22-17. After a time out the Bears defense rose to the occasion with digs from Georgia Dahm and Myla Barnett. Gabby Alston got a timely kill for point No. 24 and after a service ace from Taylor Trapp, the Polar Bears celebrated the victory.
Leading Baldwin on the day were Cartier Thomas (16 aces, 64 assists), Laura Pellicano (18 aces, 18 digs), Haley Tavares (23 kills, seven blocks), Gabby Alston (23 kills, eight blocks), Georgia Dahm (11 aces, 19 kills, 14 digs), Taylor Trapp (14 aces, eight kills, 10 digs), Mayla Barnett (eight aces, 31 digs), Elise Kait (15 aces, 20 digs) and Makayla Pratt (four kills).
Conestoga defeated Haverford High, 3-0, Tuesday, posting scores of 25-8, 29-27, 25-16. For the Pioneers, Pasha Mottley and Abby Francis both had six kills and Gabi Castro had 11 digs.
Merion Mercy Academy defeated host St Basil, 3-0, Sept. 21, posting scores of 25-19, 25-21, 25-10. The Golden Bears were led by Nicole Nowlan (15 kills, seven digs), Annie Butler (10 kills, 1.5 blocks), Alex Pizzi (34 assists), Jordyn Young (16 digs) and Francesca Tronieri (19 service points).