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WEIRTON -- The Catholic Central volleyball team did not let up against rival Madonna.
The Crusaders pulled away in all three games against the Blue Dons en route to recording a sweep, 25-15, 25-17, 25-12, Tuesday night on Joanna Bernabei-McNamee Court inside the Bill Barrett Gymnasium.
"They played well," Catholic Central (10-3) head coach Sherri Barber said. "We had some little glitches. We are preparing for some big teams."
The Blue Dons battled, but the Crusaders were able to pull away on their to winning all three games.
"They played well," Madonna (1-9) head coach Mike Orecchio said about Catholic Central. "They are well coached. There are a couple of things we could have done better.
"Losing is contagious. We are in a real bad losing streak right now. We play Valley and Trinity in a tri. Hopefully, we can take both of those games."
Individually for Catholic Central, Ara Marcino recorded six aces, six kills, two blocks, 16 assists and 21 points, Ella Maragos collected three aces, one kill, two blocks, one assist and 14 points and Lilly Balzano tallied two aces, six kills, one block, 13 assists and 13 points. Also, Natalie Cherepko produced one ace, seven kills, two assists and 11 points, Talia Marcino contributed one ace, four kills, one assist and four points and Anna Aria added two aces, 12 kills and 11 points. Finally, Emily Walker delivered one kill, one block and one point.
"We are taking more interest in our serves," Barber said. "As a team, our serve percentage is 95 percent. That is a really good service percentage."
For Madonna, Maddi Owens tallied one ace, two digs, one assist, two kills and two blocks, Mia Pietranton produced three digs, eight assists and two kills, and Rylee Birkhmer recorded two aces, two blocks and seven kills. Also, Chloe Orecchio collected one ace, six digs and one kill, Abigail Boyd delivered three assists, one kill and one block and Jules Thomshack contributed one kill and one block. Finally, Gigi Orecchio finished with one dig.
The victory enabled the hosts to sweep the season series from the visitors from Hancock County.
"We had a different lineup tonight," Barber said. "We changed our rotation. We didn't do a great job with it tonight. We talked better. They are quiet on the court. I am trying to get them to be more verbal."
The Blue-and-Gold changed where they were hitting the ball in this match as compared to first one at Catholic Central.
"They pushed deep on us," Coach Orecchio said. "We tried to cheat forward, and they exposed us. We were in all the sets until the last part, and then they pulled away.
"We were ready. We were psyched up. It just did not work out.
"I am going to try and right the ship. We have to come back tomorrow ready to play."
Catholic Central entered play this week in fourth place in the OVAC Class 2A standings.
"We are still in the running in the OVAC," Barber said. "We were in second, but we dropped. We play Toronto Thursday, Monday we play Edison, Tuesday we play Weir and then Thursday we play Big Red. That is about as big as it gets for us. We have a big week ahead.
"We only three home games left. I did that on purpose. I wanted to prepare us for the tournament."
Madonna is scheduled to play Valley and Trinity Christian in a tri-match starting at 5:30 p.m. today at home.
Catholic Central is slated to play Jefferson County rival Toronto Thursday at home inside the Mickey Barber Gymnasium. The JV match is set to start at 5:30 p.m. with the varsity to follow.