Season Preview: Southampton Boys Golf Looks To Keep Up With Rest Of League, Buccio Returns To Girls Volleyball, Cross Country Programs Are Rebuilding

The Southampton boys golf team lost a pair of seniors in Jack Blackmore and Luke Sacconaghi, but the bulk of the team is still in place and will be looking to dethrone East Hampton from its League VIII perch this season.

They’ll be led by a pretty experienced group, with junior Liam Blackmore, Jack’s younger brother, returning along with seniors Jack Brown, Brian Emmons and Owen Wetter. Junior Ronan Brady and sophomore Cooper Tracy are also returning and gained valuable varsity experience last year and will lengthen the Mariner’s lineup.

While Liam Blackmore should remain atop the lineup, head coach Tim Schreck said where the rest of his players fall is up in the air. Brown’s average from last year would slot him in behind Blackmore, Schreck said, but he knows Emmons has been working hard on his game in the offseason, so things could change.

League VIII will continue, as it has for years, to be competitive with all of the East End schools competing against one another. East Hampton went undefeated last season to win the league title and went on to win Conference IV and place second in the county. Although their top golfer, James Bradley, has transferred out of state, the Bonackers still possess one of the most experienced lineups in the league. Westhampton Beach tied with Southampton in the standings last season and is returning the majority of its lineup as well. Pierson/Bridgehampton graduated a number of its top golfers and is in a bit of a rebuilding year.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” Schreck said of the league. “I would imagine East Hampton has the upper hand since it has most of its guys coming back, so they’ll be tough to take down. Westhampton is young but is solid. We’d like to get into that fight and cause some problems, as per usual.“

Southampton was scheduled to play William Floyd in its season opener this Thursday, September 8, at Rock Hill Golf and Country Club in Manorville at 4 p.m.

Jorgine Buccio is back home.

After starting the varsity girls volleyball program at Southampton nearly 18 years ago, Buccio, who has been a guidance counselor in the school district for over 20 years, took a bit of a break from coaching after having her son, but is now back as the program’s head coach. Having played volleyball herself at Newfield High School in Selden and then Stony Brook University before an injury derailed her playing career, Buccio is excited to be back in the varsity ranks.

“I always planned to come back and coach,” she said last week. “I thought that was going to be at the intermediate school this year, but when I got moved up to be a guidance counselor at the high school, it just worked out better with the schedule. And with my son in daycare now, they were looking for a coach, so here we are.”

Hilary Rewinski, who coached the team previously, got a teaching job in the Sag Harbor School District and is now the head coach of the Pierson/Bridgehampton varsity girls volleyball team. Rewinski is actually a former student and player of Buccio.

“I just love volleyball,” Buccio said. “I am super passionate about it. It’s such an exciting sport and being back at this level is really exiting.”

Buccio is taking over a program that has not won all that much in recent years, but she is hoping to change that this season. It will help that there are many girls returning, including senior captains Paige Garvin and Deja Ellis. Garvin will be a setter, while Ellis will be an outside hitter. Raven Reddick, who missed most of last season due to an injury, also returns after an injury kept her out for most of last season.

Also returning are Chloe Bierfriend, Kyla Cerullo, Logan O’Neill, Sloane Edson, Ava Guillo and Scout Whiting. There are quite a few players who are returning to the sport after taking some time off, including Mhezarie Diaz, Vanessa Reyes and Margo Averbach.

Freshman Bailey Brown is coming up from junior varsity and should provide some skill and talent right away, Buccio said. Rounding out the roster are Stella Lima, Caitlyn Schulman and Samantha Udave.

“We had a huge turnout for tryouts this year. It was pretty difficult to decide the team,” Buccio said. “There are a lot of girls who played for me in the middle school so it’s exciting to kind of fast forward with them and experience this all with them at the high school level.”

Southampton opened the season Wednesday at Shoreham-Wading River and will host Bayport-Blue Point on Thursday, September 8, at 4 p.m.

The Southampton boys cross country program is in a bit of a rebuilding mode after losing six seniors to graduation, which included its top runner in Billy Malone who qualified for the state meet last year and is now running in college. But that also included Harrison Gavalas, Saintino Arnold, Justin Marro, Maxwell Murch and Chris Matamoros.

The Mariners have a few things going for them, though, despite those losses. First, Southampton has moved down to Class C due to lower enrollment numbers, which won’t matter all that much during the regular season, but should help when it comes to postseason meets. Also, the Mariners replaced those six seniors with six freshmen, so numbers are good, head coach Eddie Arnold said.

Another positive is that Evan Simioni, who has run for varsity for multiple years now, is returning to be the team’s captain. Daniel Palumbo, Daniel McDonnell, Sean Doyle, Anthony Glanz, Johnny Halhouhoul, Dylan Kozalka, Tanner Marro Luca Paladino, Cooper Sanders, Jack Terry and Jake Cook have all returned as well, and Andrew Serata is a newcomer to the team.

Coach Arnold said that his pack strategy is going to come in play even more so this season because he doesn’t have a top runner in the county like he’s had in the past with Malone, and in the years before him, Gustavo Morastitla and Sebastian Cuyjet. That means while they may not take first or even second in a meet, his runners could still win the meet by sweeping the next three or four placements, which is very attainable by his group, Arnold said.

“Having Evan as the captain puts together the plan, the blueprint to be successful. He understands what’s at stake here and has all of the boys together,” he said. “We don’t have that front runner, but we’ll all train together and have an opportunity to win the meet.”

As for the girls, who Arnold also coaches, they will be led by co-captains Elizabeth “Biz” Terry and Jeorgiana Gavalas. Both, Arnold said, do a great job as liaisons between both the boys and girls teams to get everyone motivated and ready to practice.

Also returning to the girl’s team are Hayden Gilmartin, Amanda Kozalka, Riley Mordock, Lili Telvi and Melanie Lepiz.

The boys and girls have their first meet of the season this Thursday, September 8, against Center Moriches at 4:30 p.m.