Luzerne County union criticized for continued clothing allowance and longevity bonus

web1_Aquilina2.jpg

Cougars name Aqualina assistant AD

<p>PLYMOUTH &#8212; One look at the back of Holy Redeemer&#8217;s warm-up shirt tells the entire story.</p><p>Printed in bright red letters on a jet-black shirt, it reads, &#8220;So, you think we&#8217;re 4<sup>th</sup>?&#8221; That statement reflects where some have said the Lady Royals would finish in the Wyoming Valley Conference.</p><p>Well, those few might want to re-think their preseason poll &#8211; especially after Tuesday night.</p><p>Holy Redeemer put together a pretty solid performance in all facets of the game. Senior Amanda Curcio had 11 kills and 13 assists, and sophomores Sarah Liskowicz and Skylar Osenkarski combined for 10 spikes as the Royals swept past Wyoming Valley West, 3-0, in a battle of two teams with plans to finish at the top of the league. Set scores were 25-18, 25-8 and 25-12.</p><p>&#8220;I think we wanted to come out and show everyone that we are still playing Holy Redeemer volleyball,&#8221; Curcio said. &#8220;We do have a lot of young girls that don&#8217;t have that varsity experience yet, but they are all very talented. Right now, we will keep working hard at our jobs. I have a job to do, just like everyone else does.&#8221;</p><p>Not a bad way for a young group of Royals to battle in their first true road test.</p><p>Redeemer was pushed hard in the opening set, down 5-2 early, before two big moments switched all momentum.</p><p>A 4-0 run on Dayna Belsky&#8217;s serve that gave the Royals a 12-9 lead. And a 6-0 spurt by Korren Hicks that busted open a 15-11 set. Hicks, another one of those sophomores, proved to be lethal behind the service line. She opened the second set with five straight points before a monster 8-0 run with Brynn Kukosky behind the service line gave the Royals a 16-3 lead in the second.</p><p>Hicks also had another run to put the Royals up 19-8 in the third set.</p><p>&#8220;We just wanted to do what we do at practice,&#8221; said Hicks, who finished with 15 points. &#8220;We prepped a lot there. We just wanted to try our best because if we can do that, we will succeed. There were some nerves, but there is a lot of confidence as well. I had a few mistakes, and there is always room for improvement. But I tried my best on every serve to just hit my targets.&#8221;</p><p>While Redeemer was firing darts behind the service line, Valley West couldn&#8217;t get the pass forward to set up any type of offense.</p><p>The Spartans had just six kills, two of those by junior standout Gracie Giza &#8211; who was held in check by the Redeemer defense all night.</p><p>Simply put, if you can&#8217;t get that ball cleanly to the front row, you will struggle against anyone. Plus, a total of 15 errors and violations in one set won&#8217;t help out the situation.</p><p>&#8220;Coming into this game, I told the girls it would come down to serve and serve-receive,&#8221; Valley West head coach RJ Tomascik said. &#8220;We did well in the first set, but after losing that one, I think it took the wind out of our sails. Our passing dropped off, and it led to virtually no offense. If you push the ball or keep sending free balls to Redeemer, that&#8217;s the result you get.&#8221;</p><p>Valley West tried to cut the lead back in the opening set, stringing together four straight points on Gabby LaBar&#8217;s serve, trimming the deficit to 23-18. But a service error and a block by Curcio ended the set.</p><p>It took all the momentum the Spartans had. Valley West found itself down 13 points to start the second set and 10 in the final stanza. For the match, the team had 16 attack errors and eight service miscues.</p><p>&#8220;I thought our girls played well tonight. We served where we had to, and our attack was right on,&#8221; Redeemer head coach Jack Kablick said. &#8220;I thought our sophomores did a good job of hitting the serves right where we wanted them to go. If you can do that, it will help neutralize someone as good as Grace. You can&#8217;t let her get the ball.&#8221;</p><p><strong>Nanticoke 3, Pittston Area 1</strong></p><p>Nanticoke rebounded from a Game 1 loss to earn a 14-25, 25-14, 25-7, 25-5 win. Jenna Lipowski (seven aces, five kills, 31 assists), Kasey Radginski (14 kills, three blocks), Megan Murphy (four aces, eight digs) and Courtney Mazonis (six aces) led the victory.</p><p>The Patriots were topped by Kirsten Durling (15 assists, three kills, two blocks), Portia Weidlich (five kills) and Emily O&#8217;Brien (seven service points, four kills).</p><p><strong>Dallas 3, Tunkhannock 1</strong></p><p>The Mountaineers came away with a 25-15, 25-18, 16-25, 25-18 win over the Tigers. In the spotlight were Megan Sebastianelli (20 service points, seven aces), Gianna Musto (three kills, two blocks, three digs, six service points, two aces) and Caitlin Pike (three assists, 10 service points, five aces).</p><p>Tunkhannock was led by Annalise VerBeek (20 assists, four service points), Mikayla Mills (three kills, six service points), Kayla Binner (15 service points, seven aces, five kills), Megan Straley (21 assists, eight service points, five aces, five digs), Anna Moffitt (eight service points, three aces, 2 digs) and Jessica Dymond (five kills).</p><p><strong>Berwick 3, MMI Prep 0</strong></p><p>Madison Trough came through with a match-high 16 kills as the Bulldogs earned a 25-15, 25-20, 27-25 road sweep.</p><p>Trough added 10 service points and four digs while Damaris Ayala had 26 assists, four digs and two kills and Madelyn Pinterich finished with three aces, five kills and 10 digs.</p><p><strong>North Pocono 3,</strong></p><p><strong>Coughlin 0</strong></p><p>A strong serve helped lead North Pocono a 25-13, 25-10, 25-23 sweep. Heather Kramer and Lilly Thompson recorded 13 aces apiece in the victory. Hannah Bray had eight.</p><p>Coughlin was led by Pilar Cantoran (six service points, three aces), Mariely Herrera (five kills, two blocks) and Mykayla Timek (five kills).</p><p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Holy Redeemer 3, Valley West 0</strong></p><p style="text-align: left;"><strong>Redeemer `25`25`25 &#8211; 3</strong></p><p><strong>Valley West `18`8`12 &#8211; 0</strong></p><p><strong>HR</strong> &#8212; Amanda Curcio 11 kills, 2 blocks, 13 assists; Brynn Kukosky 4 kills, 15 points; Korren Hicks, 15 points; Sarah Liskowicz 5 kills; Skylar Osenkarski 5 kills; Samantha Carr 4 kills.</p><p><strong>WVW</strong> &#8212; Gracie Giza 2 kills, 2 blocks; Tessa Johns 5 assists; Audi Wells 1 kills, 1 ace.</p><style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL090716WVWHR1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Grace Giza (13) goes up for a block aginst Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Brynn Kukosky (13) during a girls volleyball game at Wyoming Valley West on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL090716WVWHR1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wyoming Valley West&#8217;s Grace Giza (13) goes up for a block aginst Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Brynn Kukosky (13) during a girls volleyball game at Wyoming Valley West on Tuesday. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL090716WVWHR2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Amanda Curcio, left, sets up the ball against Wyoming Valley West during a girls volleyball game on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL090716WVWHR2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Amanda Curcio, left, sets up the ball against Wyoming Valley West during a girls volleyball game on Tuesday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL090716WVWHR3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Ashley Andrejko assists her team for a spike against Wyoming Valley West on Tuesday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_TTL090716WVWHR3.jpg</photo2><caption2>Holy Redeemer&#8217;s Ashley Andrejko assists her team for a spike against Wyoming Valley West on Tuesday. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Victory over Valley West shows Holy Redeemer has another league title chase in mind</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Tom Fox</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @TLsports</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Making a statement