St. Joseph’s Kelsey Kouyoumdjian looks to serve the ball.
By Gerry O’Connor
MAPLEWOOD/SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — On Friday night, Oct. 7, “The Battle of Prospect Street” took place at St. Joseph’s Church in Maplewood as the St. Joseph’s Celtics took on the Our Lady of Sorrows Crusaders in girls CYO volleyball. The match was the very first volleyball game in St. Joseph’s history.
The night began with the JV fifth- and sixth-grade match, which was won by St. Joseph’s, 25-7 and 25-7. Mary Browne paced St. Joseph’s in scoring, with 8 straight points in Game 1 and 10 points in Game 2.
The varsity seventh- and eighth-grade match opened with an exciting 26-24 win for St. Joseph’s. They were trailing 24-21 when Violet Kessler brought home the win by serving 5 straight points. In the second game the Celtics won, 25-14, led by Sofia Peterson. A total team effort saw solid serving by Kelsey Kouyoumdjian and Summer Connell.
On Sunday, Oct. 9, the Celtics returned to the court as the JV played a tough St. Thomas from Bloomfield. Though St. Joseph’s lost two games, 25-9 and 25-16, Peyton Spells played a solid game with five winning serves in the loss.
The varsity defeated Aquinas Academy from Livingston, 25-17 and 25-12. The sweep was led by serves from Catherine Nolan and Ava Hersh, along with good defense by Phoebe Perlman and Maya Hersh.
The Celtics return to the court this Friday night, Oct. 14, with home games against Good Shepherd Academy of Nutley and Saturday, Oct. 15, against St. Catherine’s of Cedar Grove.
Photo Courtesy of Gerry O’Connor
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