Balanced Efforts Help Hurricanes Sweep Calhoun For Second Long Island Championship Crown

The Westhampton Beach boys volleyball team has been silently putting the pieces together to play a complete game, and the results of the Hurricanes’ efforts were on full display Saturday when Westhampton Beach (16-2) swept Calhoun, 26-24, 25-16, 25-17, to take home the program’s second Division II Long Island Championship.

“As you go deeper into the season, the better teams come out, and I think this team is showing it deserves to keep playing,” said senior setter Seth Terry. “Our connections are getting better and better, our offense is moving quicker and quicker and the defense is picking up. We worked the whole season for this, and we’re ready for that next level of play.”

Westhampton Beach, which nabbed its second Long Island crown in as many appearances, will hit the pool play round of the Division II state championship next, beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, November 18, at Albany Capital Center.

“It took a lot to get here, but I’m glad for it, because it’s all led to this,” said senior outside hitter Alec Kelly. “This is a tight-knit group, so it feels great to win a Long Island championship with your closest friends. And we’re excited. We want to come home state champs.”

One Hurricane who has been most impressive this season is senior outside hitter Will Jankowski, who remained a reliable offensive weapon at Center Moriches High School Saturday morning. While his power hitting has always been counted on, his float serve — where the ball barely rotates as it glides just above the net — proved to be another useful tool. Jankowski racked up six aces, including two as part of a 6-0 Westhampton Beach run to open the first set, which he closed out with another unreturned serve.

“The float serve is scary good,” head coach Josh Tuttle said. “It doesn’t look as exciting as a jump serve, but it’s like a knuckleball coming in at you. It’s a hard serve to pass, and he knew where to serve it to.”

Jankowski’s offensive prowess also remained consistent as he secured a team-high 13 kills. He opened the match with one, closed out the second set with two straight and spiked the ball through blockers for a 24-17 advantage in the third before a Calhoun hit fell out of bounds to hand Westhampton Beach the win. It made Terry’s job that much easier not just knowing he could rely on Jankowski, who also recorded four blocks, but Kelly and senior right-side hitter Casey Sidor, who contributed 11 kills apiece.

“It helps having so many options, because if someone is having an off day, I can just pass to someone else,” said Terry, who finished with 39 assists, 10 digs, three kills, an ace and a block. “Today, I was just passing wherever it made the most sense, because everyone was doing damage.”

Leading a balanced attack proved difficult for Calhoun (5-14) to counter, which despite its record upset No. 1 South Side with a three-set win and edged No. 2 Jericho 3-2 for the Nassau County Championship. Much of its offense was generated behind the strong swing of Max Jose, who ended the LIC matchup with 13 kills.

“We were originally expecting to play Jericho, so we had to change our game plan a lot, but across the last few practices we worked on a strategy to play around him,” Kelly said. “We knew he was going to score points against us, so we just wanted to jump to every ball that we could and make sure that we had two people blocking him at all times.”

The outside hitter said he himself was nervous, but that as soon as he came away with a few good hits he was just having a good time.

“When my team comes together and starts cheering for me, I start having fun with it,” Kelly said. “When we are all cheering, it gets our blood pumping and we all want to work that much harder for each other.”

Terry said that energy is something the Hurricanes have used to fuel themselves all season.

“Everything was clicking,” Terry said. “One thing for us this whole season was energy, and I think we brought that big time today.”

Sidor said he knows that for a fact, although he admitted he also had some early jitters because he did not practice with his team the four days prior.

“My leg has really been bothering me. I came in with an open mind, but we saw they had the potential after their comeback Wednesday, and it’s pretty hard when you can’t practice,” the senior said. “But every guy on the court producing and having fun — bringing that energy — is the most important part of getting us here, and once I started hitting my spot, that spirit helped me skyrocket. They didn’t come out strong like we did. We were ready.”

Sidor said while he is happy to see Westhampton Beach return to the state tournament for the first time since 2019, he’s most excited for his teammates.

“They really deserve it. The hard work finally paid off,” Sidor said. “This is surreal — definitely a different feeling, for sure.”

Many of his classmates were part of a junior varsity team that finished 2-14 their freshman year. Sidor said Westhampton Beach’s game coming together and his team’s performance peaking at the right time could help his Hurricanes take down undefeated Jamesville-DeWitt (20-0).

“We’ve felt like we’ve been in the shadows,” Sidor said. “We don’t get any of the recognition we deserve, and we’ve put a lot into this. But I think they’re starting to see us now, and we’re ready to take that next step. We are so ready. And we think we have a chance.”