Lady Hurricanes edge Lady Baymen in intense non-league match

Recommend

Comment

Email this article

Print this article

Get news alerts

RSS Feeds

Share Digg Mixx Linked In Facebook Twitter Delicious

Technically, there wasn’t anything at stake in a non-league game between the Westhampton Beach and Hampton Bays girls volleyball teams in Westhampton on Thursday, October 29. Both teams had already clinched playoff berths in their respective classes and neither stood to gain any better seeding in their classes by winning the match.

But the level of play and the looks on the players’ faces told a different story and made a bold statement—crosstown rivalries still matter.

In a five-set grinder, Westhampton Beach prevailed on its home court, winning the decisive set 25-17. Hampton Bays (8-5 in League II, 11-6 overall) served notice in the first set that it would be a tough battle, winning 25-20. In the most competitive set of the match, the Lady Canes evened the score 28-26 but the Lady Baymen pushed their rival to the brink of elimination with a 25-22 win in the third set. Westhampton Beach rallied for a 25-23 win in the fourth set before pulling out the victory.

“You can usually throw out the records when we play Westhampton,” Hampton Bays head coach Andy Fotopoulos said. “I’ve coached against [Lenny Zaloga] for a long time and they used to be in our league. It used to be a heated rivalry because they are our neighbors and I don’t think there’s any love lost between these teams.”

Fotopoulos said he was proud of the way his squad performed against the Lady Canes, who were 9-2 and in second place in League VI prior to their final game of the regular season against winless Amityville, scheduled for this past Monday. The Lady Canes’ only league losses were to undefeated leader East Hampton.

“In their gym, for us to come in and take that first game, I think we surprised them,” Fotopoulos said.

Hampton Bays had plenty of chances to win the match. The Lady Baymen were on the cusp of a 2-0 lead with a 26-25 advantage in the second set before the Lady Canes pulled out the win. In the fourth set, Hampton Bays was up 24-23 and was serving to win the match, but the ball hit the net and Westhampton Beach stayed alive.

“It was intense,” Fotopoulos said. “There was a lot of hard hitting early on. It was a fun match.”

For the Lady Baymen, Rachel Tufano had 13 kills and four blocks while April Bennett had 12 kills and four aces. Morgan Orego had seven kills, Lexi Giannone had 19 assists, Liz Raimo had 12 assists and Taylor Diffley had 34 digs.

Westhampton Beach was led by hitter Savannah Tomlinson, who had 25 kills, as well as libero Alexa Hernandez, who had 37 digs. Setter Heather Muchowski had 35 assists.

Before facing Westhampton Beach, the Lady Baymen edged Mattituck (5-8 in League VII) 3-2 on the North Fork on Monday, October 26. Hampton Bays won the first set 25-13, lost the second 26-24, won the third set 28-26, lost the fourth 25-20 and won the fifth 25-22.

Hampton Bays simply had trouble closing out big leads and allowed the Lady Tuckers to go on long scoring runs. In the second set, Hampton Bays squandered a 15-4 lead and in the third set, they had a 17-8 lead and allowed the match to become very close.

In the fifth set, the Lady Baymen were down 21-14 before Bennett went back to serve out the game.

“It was nice to know we can come back,” Fotopoulos said.

Tufano led the team with 20 kills and seven blocks while Bennett had 14 kills and three aces. Orego had seven kills, Sarah Young had six kills, Giannone had 15 assists and four aces, Raimo had 20 assists and Diffley had 26 digs and three aces.

Hampton Bays was scheduled to finish the regular season at undefeated Elwood/John Glenn on Tuesday, November 3, in a game that would not affect the playoff standing for the Lady Baymen. The brackets for the Class C playoffs had not been released at press time, but Fotopoulos said he expected his squad to garner the top seed and also said he expected four teams to make up the Class C bracket. Center Moriches and Port Jefferson, who both play in League VIII, already clinched berths and although Mattituck will not finish with the even record necessary to get into the playoffs, Fotopoulos said he believed the team would gain entrance by way of petition because League VII is comprised primarily of higher ranked Class B teams. In fact, he believes that the difference in the level of competition between Leagues VII and VIII is so high that Mattituck may have garnered the second seed while Center Moriches would be third and Port Jeff would be fourth. Hampton Bays beat both Mattituck and Port Jeff this season.

Since the girls volleyball season was moved from a spring sport to a fall sport in 2004, the Lady Baymen have never been the top seed in the playoffs or won the county championship. Hampton Bays didn’t make the playoffs last year and they advanced to the county final in 2005 but lost to Center Moriches.