Haber’s 15 Kills, 5 Aces, Green’s 8 Kills And Two Blocks Lead Westhampton To Suffolk Final

The Hurricanes have been steadfast this season — putting in the work with the hope of avenging last year’s Suffolk County championship loss. On Tuesday, November 9, the Westhampton Beach boys volleyball team (9-6) will get that chance.

With a 3-0 sweep of Hauppauge on Thursday, November 4 — 25-17, 25-16, 25-22 — and behind a game-high 15 kills from senior outside hitter Dan Haber, Westhampton punched its ticket to the Division II finale where the team will rematch Eastport-South Manor at Longwood High School at 4 p.m.

“This was the perfect win. We needed this,” Haber said. “We’ve made tremendous strides even in just these last few weeks alone. We’ve grown a lot. We’ve gotten so much closer. Our chemistry is there and it’s helped things go a lot smoother. We’ve played a lot better volleyball.”

The Hurricanes are picking up steam at the right time.

Haber, who also had five digs, racked up six kills in the first set alone. The senior sandwiched Hauppauge’s spike with big ones of his own, and followed his second with an ace to put Westhampton ahead, 20-13.

“I was feeling good. I was swinging high and looking for any touches I could get,” Haber said, adding that putting a few away left him feeling even more comfortable as the match wore on. “It instills confidence in me to just swing away and not worry about getting blocked.”

“He was a machine today,” head coach Josh Tuttle said of his soon-to-be Division I standout. “It’s great to see Dan swinging and having a good game. It didn’t matter what they did, he just kept finding ways to get kills. He put it away when we needed him to.”

Senior right side Joe Green, who came up with two big blocks and three kills in the first set, closed things out after a Haber dump with a leaping spike to the back left corner.

“I saw that the outside was only hitting in one direction, so I changed my block over to the cross,” Green said. “That brought up the energy for everyone. We feed off of that.”

Both seniors also admitted the crowd played a huge part in their success.

“This is my first time in a home gym playing in a playoff match in front of our fans. We filled the gym up. It was really fun,” Green said. “They were also providing a ton of energy.”

The second set went much like the first, although it did start off quite different, with Hauppauge picking up the first four points before a serve out of bounds at the back of the court. It was then Haber’s turn to step to the service line, and the senior picked up four aces and a kill around a Conor Farnan (31 assists, three digs, three kills) dump for a 14-7 lead.

“It’s always great to have someone you know you believe in and you can trust,” Green said of Haber. “You know he’s going to get something.”

Senior middle hitter Declan Kerns (six kills, five digs and an ace), Green and Haber helped push Westhampton through a 5-1 scoring spurt late, with Kerns picking up two kills before Haber secured his ninth of the game. Green followed it up with his fourth and fifth to give the Hurricanes a 22-12 advantage, and Haber scored the set point with his hardest-hitting spike of the match that kept the crowd roaring.

“We didn’t want to take a single game for granted,” Tuttle said. “We came out on top because we stayed in it all the way through to the end. Our key players had the games they needed to. We kept swinging and we were playing aggressive.”

While the team, the coach said, had a couple of mental lapses, especially in the final set that helped Hauppauge pull ahead, 21-19, the Hurricanes were well-equipped to get points and go on runs when it counted most.

“We did a good job of keeping their blockers on their toes. They didn’t really know where that ball was going to go,” Tuttle said. “We ran some middles when we needed to and got the right side involved. We were able to run a lot of balls in transition and get points off of everything that they were throwing at us.”

Hauppauge kept the third set close, knotting things four times early and once late. Even when a Seth Terry kill (13 digs, six kills, two aces) put Westhampton out front, 13-9, the Eagles managed to find their way back in it when a kill went over blockers to tie the score at 19. The team found its first lead on a Westhampton miscue before inching ahead, 21-19. Haber picked up two kills between a botched Hurricanes block, Mason secured a tip to make it 22-all, and Haber earned two more spikes for points before a Hauppauge return out of bounds ended the match.

“It was a great game to get us some energy and get us into the rhythm. We have everything working,” Tuttle said. “Our goal was to be at our best at the end of the season, and I think so far that was our best game. But we need to level up yet another time.”

The Hurricanes have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. Haber said the four-set loss — 22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 10-25 — to Eastport-South Manor last season has been the biggest motivator all year.

“We really want to beat ESM. That was a big upset for us and our alumni. We want to show them who’s boss,” Green said. “We’ve been preparing for this for a while. We’re so ready.”

The coach said when his players are having a good day, they know they can hang with anyone, even an undefeated team (15-0) like the Sharks.

“This win feels great, but we’ve got more to prove,” Farnan said. “The feeling of that loss has stuck with me. I want this bad. And there’s no reason we can’t win.”