Maloney Volleyball Keeps Rolling With Four-Set Win Over Glastonbury

Maloney girls volleyball added another strong result to its September run, beating Glastonbury 3-1 in Meriden on Monday.

The Spartans opened with a 25-13 first-set win before Glastonbury responded 25-10 in the second. Maloney then regained control in the third set, 25-22, and finished the night with a 25-11 fourth set.

Setter Tessa Holmes finished with 26 assists, continuing a productive stretch in which she has repeatedly been at the center of Maloney’s offense. Jenna Feitel added 13 kills and two aces against Glastonbury, giving the Spartans another reliable attacking option.

The result fits a pattern Maloney has established during the opening weeks of the fall season: the Spartans have shown they can win in different ways.

Against RHAM earlier in September, Maloney won in straight sets behind 19 kills from Greta Koscuk and 32 assists from Holmes. A few days later, the Spartans were pushed to five sets by Darien and came back from a 2-1 deficit to win the final two sets, including a 15-13 deciding set.

That Darien match also showed the depth of Maloney’s attack. Koscuk had 20 kills and 10 digs, Maryam Machmech had 14 kills and two blocks, and Holmes finished with 35 assists.

Maloney followed that with a dominant 3-0 win over crosstown rival Platt. Koscuk and Machmech each had eight kills, Holmes added 14 assists and four kills, and Feitel produced five kills and seven aces.

The Glastonbury match was different. Maloney had to respond after losing the second set badly, and the third set became the pivot point. The Spartans won that set by three points before pulling away decisively in the fourth.

For a team trying to build toward the heart of the CIAC season, that ability to reset inside a match matters. Good teams are not going to control every set. The more important question is how they react when an opponent changes momentum.

Maloney’s recent results suggest the Spartans have multiple players capable of influencing a match and a setter in Holmes who can keep the offense organized when the pressure increases.

For CO Sports, this is exactly the kind of local story that deserves regular attention. Connecticut high-school athletes are producing meaningful performances every week, and Meriden has a team building a strong early-season résumé one match at a time.