St. Joseph seniors shine against Francis de Sales on volleyball team’s senior night

WESTCHESTER — St. Joseph picked up on the St. Francis de Sales (8-6, 4-3) girls volleyball team’s loss of focus in the Chargers’ last home match on Tuesday in Westchester.

Blame it on a senior moment.

The Chargers pulled out a 25-21, 25-9 GCAC victory, playing all their seniors in their final home match. Three of the six seniors don’t play often, Chargers coach Ashley Talley said. But each contributed in some way.

Jasmine Hernandez got her serve over the net for the first time, according to Talley. Middle hitters Gabby Foster and Tiana Little turned a successful deke play, where Foster faked a kill and Little came from behind her and spiked the ball.

The Chargers served 17 aces.

“Our serve receive could have been better, but overall, they played well,” Talley said. “I think the game went pretty well for how it started.”

Outside hitter Victoria Lewis usually enters the match during the second game but got to start on Tuesday.

“I was nervous at first because I haven’t started at all this season and there was a lot of excitement for Senior Night, but it helped my confidence and motivated me,” she said.

Setter Emilie Liotine, who has started every game, enjoyed playing one last time with her senior teammates on the home court.

“I was really proud of what we accomplished tonight, and it was really fun with the girls,” she said. “We really showed what we were capable of. In the second game, we played our hearts out.”

Pioneers’ junior outside hitter Keri Monegain blamed the defeat on a lack of communication.

“We weren’t calling it — we could’ve focused better,” she said. “We focused a lot on our first loss and they gave us bad energy in the second game.”

Pioneers head coach Arlene Ramos said, “We lost momentum and it all went downhill from there. … This is not a true reflection of how we play. My girls know how to play against a crowd but we could focus on how to focus more in away games.”