Hampton Bays Girls Volleyball Wins Playoff Opener Over Westhampton Beach

Madysen Frederiksen’s eyes welled up with tears of joy Monday night.

Although her No. 4-seeded Hampton Bays girls volleyball team was the home team for the Class A playoff opener against No. 5 Westhampton Beach, the 14-4 Baymen may not have been the favorite to some, and still, hung on to avenge a five-set playoff loss to the Hurricanes last season with a 3-1 quarterfinal win.

“I’m so relieved,” Frederiksen said, beaming over the 25-23, 25-21,16-25, 26-24 finish. “We may not have the height or that one star hitter, but we know how to come together and that’s the best part of being a member of this team. It was so much fun and so great to see everyone believe in each other and our abilities to pull away with this one.”

The outside hitter pulled off back-to-back kills to give Hampton Bays its first lead of the October 27 matchup, 16-15, but Westhampton Beach (9-5) took it back with Emma O’Came and Reilly Maloney’s block of the senior’s spike and an O’Came ace, making it 19-17 Hurricanes. Frederiksen wasn’t going to be deterred, and sent her next shot off the blockers and out of bounds, but Westhampton Beach senior Mia Hill collected her own kill and a point off a tip for a 21-18 advantage that forced Hampton Bays to call timeout.

What came out of the huddle was a string of Westhampton Beach errors, and junior middle blocker Kirra Schoerlin slammed back-to-back comebackers down to tie the score before senior outside hitter Taylor Meyers’s third kill of the set put Hampton Bays out front again, 23-22. The Hurricanes hit the ball to the net on the next play after their own timeout call to try to regroup, and senior outside hitter Jasmine Taylor earned her fourth kill, but Schoerlin closed it out with her fifth.

“I felt so amazing. I was so happy to be able to do that,” Schoerlin said of helping lift her team. “The adrenaline was pumping through me. The energy in the gym was really carrying us through. We felt we had nothing to lose, so we told ourselves to have fun out there and do our best.”

The second set was much like the first, with the two teams remaining close most of the way. The set was tied 10 different times until three Westhampton Beach errors put the Baymen out front, 17-14. Out of a timeout, senior outside hitter Katie Burke came away with three kills for the Hurricanes, bringing the score to 19-17, but Hampton Bays senior middle blocker Shea Egan served two aces that sandwiched a Schoerlin dunk to give the team its largest lead of the set, 23-17.

Hampton Bays made some errors, and Burke came away with a tip, but a Frederiksen ace capped the second-set win.

“Everyone has such great spirit every game,” Frederiksen said. “We know how to rally each other and work together better than most teams.”

The Baymen are known for their defensive skillsets, and amped up the blocking for Burke, but she still proved to be challenging, especially in the third. The outside hitter recorded nine of her record-high 24 kills that set. Frederiksen scored back-to-back points to cut Westhampton Beach’s lead to 14-10, but Burke found a hole in Hampton Bay’s defense on a tip and just minutes later, hit another for a 22-15 Hurricanes advantage. The team closed out the set with a Burke kill, Hill kill and Burke tip.

“My coach just told me to really reset and breathe in order to be there for my team,” Burke said. “We shifted our energy and used the crowd and calls against us to boost our energy to keep fighting for the win. It’s meant the world to me to be able to play with and for this team one last time.”

The unforced errors weighed Westhampton Beach down, and while the Hurricanes have Burke, and saw major contributions from Taylor, who added 13 kills and four blocks, Hampton Bays boasts a three-headed dragon that went to work in the fourth.

Meyers had 10 kills for the Baymen, Schoerlin added 11 and Frederiksen finished with 13, and their strengths were on full display as they dove for gets, blocked shots and spiked hard. A Meyers ace tied the set, 8-8, and a Frederiksen kill put Hampton Bays on top, 12-11, before a Meyers kill and three straight from Frederiksen gave the Baymen another 1-point edge, 18-17. An ace by sophomore outside hitter Lorelei Palmieri put Hampton Bays out front, 20-18, but an ace by O’Came — one of her five for Westhampton Beach — retied the set at 21-21. Out of a Hampton Bays timeout, Westhampton Beach’s Taylor came away with one of her three blocks in the set on a Schoerlin kill attempt, but the junior had her next shot fall just inbounds for a 23-22 lead and recorded her last to tie things at 24-24 before a Westhampton Beach error and Meyers kill ended the match.

“This feels so, so good,” Meyers said. “We came into this a little bit scared — a little timid — but we showed everyone we wanted to win. We gave it our all. We know Katie is an awesome player and can hit from anywhere on the court, so our focus was blocking her shots. We knew we had to stay back and really dig out balls.”

The Baymen also talked about momentum, knowing they needed to maintain the lead or there was the chance of falling on the wrong track.

“We knew if it got to five sets, we would panic, so we kept telling ourselves if we want the win enough, we’ll win,” Meyers said. “This game was challenging, but all of our games have been challenging.”

“Really, we knew that all of the pressure was on them,” Frederiksen added. “They were expected to win.”

Hampton Bays head coach Andy Fotopoulos said he’s proud of how his girls have handled every obstacle in their way.

“The key has been overachieving,” he said. “Our defense won this for us — our defense is relentless; we don’t let the ball hit the ground. But we place so much emphasis on defense that we worked hard this week to get our offense to match it. We knew when we got the ball up we had to put it away. This is a great win for the girls.”

The coach said he’s most proud of how, at the end of a game, he could ask opposing coaches who his best player is, and they’ll give a different name after every one.

“They all bring something to this team,” Fotopoulos said. “They’ve all been consistent, and they all play hard.”

Hampton Bays faces No. 1 Half Hollow Hills West (14-1) in the semifinals on the road on Thursday, October 30. The match is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

Hills West, the defending state champion that only lost one girl from last year’s team, dropped its first match of the season, 3-2, to Connetquot. The Baymen haven’t faced Hills West, but did compete against Connetquot in a tournament, falling 25-17, in a playoff round. Westhampton Beach lost to Hills West in four sets on October 8, taking the first and coming close in the fourth, losing 25-23.

“I told my girls I don’t think any team has seen an opponent with a defense like we have,” Fotopoulos said. “[Hills West is] loaded, but we’re going to try to keep it close like we did today, and win it at the end.”

Schoerlin is still in disbelief that her team has made it to this point.

“This is insane. I’m in shock,” she said. “We were so close last year, so beating Westhampton is such a relief. I’m excited to see what we can do next.”

“It’s going to be challenging, but we also know it’s nothing we haven’t done before,” Meyers added.

Frederiksen said she’s thankful the week isn’t over.

“It feels so good to know my senior season isn’t done yet,” she said. “We were told to give it our all, which is what we did. And we’ll do it again.”