Hampton Bays Girls Volleyball Team Beats Defending State Champs to Remain Undefeated

The Hampton Bays girls volleyball team has the chance to clinch the program’s first postseason berth since 2016, and the Baymen took one step closer to that target with a monumental 3-0 sweep of Elwood-John Glenn last Thursday, September 8.

The win was a prodigious one for the squad because it’s the first time Hampton Bays (4-0) has taken down the Knights in school history. The perennial powerhouse, though losing all six starters to graduation, is the defending state champion.

“When people think about the Hampton Bays girls volleyball team, they think of a small, decent team. And when we play the bigger-named ones like Elwood-John Glenn and Bayport Blue-Point, we are the underdogs — the team that isn’t supposed to win,” said senior setter Brianna Quiros. “We all want to change that, and game after game, we really have been.”

Hampton Bays head coach Andy Fotopoulos admitted his squad typically goes into matches against John Glenn hoping to score 15 points, but Quiros said the girls’ determination to prove others wrong has lit a fire under them.

“Our goal was always to see if we could get another 15 or get them to call a timeout today or see if we could scare them a little bit,” the coach said, laughing. “But the girls work hard all year and they’ve bought into what we’re trying to do — even the girls who don’t play year-round have come to our open gyms in the offseason. Because of that, we’ve become a great passing and a great defensive team.”

Fotopoulos said having four-year varsity standout Brianna Quiros lead the way doesn’t hurt, either. Quiros finished the 25-23, 25-22, 25-11 League VII win with 12 assists, five aces and five kills, while her younger sister, Tania, a junior outside hitter, racked up 11 kills and 10 digs. Senior defensive specialist Sophia Corredor and junior libero Mia Schoerlin each added nine digs.

“She has been phenomenal,” Fotopoulos said of his captain. “Any time we need a play — an ace, a kill, a set — she’s been there. She goes all over the court. She’s played great. And the kids have fed off of her.”

They did during a 3-1 victory over Center Moriches September 6. Quiros had 18 assists, 14 digs and seven aces in that 25-20, 19-25, 25-23, 25-11 win, while junior middle blocker Nellie Nicolova added 12 kills and five blocks and junior setter Gianna Betta had 12 assists. It was an added confidence boost for the four Baymen, who are on a travel volleyball team with members of the Red Devils squad.

“I am feeling great about our accomplishments so far,” said Betta, a first-year varsity player. “I was absolutely petrified moving up to varsity — scared that if I were to mess up or not get the hang of things quickly, the girls wouldn’t like me. I could not have been more wrong. Brianna and the other girls have made me feel so welcomed and instead of scolding me if I mess up, they help me and are always lifting me up. These girls have become family.”

Fotopoulos said that’s part of what’s helped these Baymen become so successful.

“These girls have been playing together for so long,” the coach said. “I also have great senior leaders, but with a small team of only 10 girls, they become a tight-knit group.”

Another fundamental element is any girl could be turned to in a time of need.

“Everyone is capable of having a big day, so if someone is off, we can go to someone else,” Fotopoulos said. “We have weapons in Tania, Nellie, [senior outside hitter] Lilly Patek and [sophomore middle blocker] Asha Pensa-Johnson, so that it’s hard for any other team to focus, because it’s not just on one girl. And Asha and Nellie are a lot stronger than any of the middles we play against, and we can take opposing girls out, so we have a strength there, too. If we’re all on, we can beat anyone.”

What kicked off the string of recent successes was a 3-1 nonleague victory over crosstown rival Westhampton Beach. Quiros collected 16 assists, 12 digs and eight aces, her sister secured 12 kills and Corredor added 10 digs and four aces in the 25-20, 18-25, 25-23, 25-19 September 1 win.

“We serve really tough, so we get some easy points that way — we just need to work on consistency,” Fotopoulos said. “And we don’t let the ball hit the ground, ever. We used to give up a lot of points to tough servers — struggling with serve receives — but we’ve improved tremendously.”

Fotopoulos said his group has been motivated to build the program up for some time now.

“It’s nice to see how strong they’ve looked and how happy they are over these last few wins, because I know the work they’ve put into it and how much they love to play the game,” he said. “Practice is over at 5 p.m. and it’s 4:56 and I tell them they can go they say, ‘No, we have four minutes left!’ They don’t want to leave the gym.”

Last season, the Baymen were two points away from making the playoffs. And now, Hampton Bays is two wins away from securing its first playoff spot in six seasons.

“We are a team of many gifted individual players, but it is because of how well we work together that we have gotten to this point,” Quiros said. “We keep ourselves grounded. We get on the court and put our wins aside — think about what must be done to get to the next — something I really like about our team. But we also want this season to be one to remember, and the idea that we could be the ones to change the path of the program drives us to want to do it even more.”