Five-Set Win At Sayville Should Net Share Of League VI Title For Westhampton Beach Girls Volleyball

When the Westhampton Beach girls volleyball team visited Sayville on Wednesday afternoon, it not only hoped to even the score but to pull even with its rival atop the League VI standings. It accomplished both, coming from behind to notch a 23-25, 25-10, 24-26, 25-17, 25-14 victory.

Westhampton Beach defeated Islip, 3-1, at home on Friday to finish the regular season with a 13-1 league record (16-2 overall), while Sayville hosted fourth-place Shoreham/Wading River on Wednesday in its regular-season finale. Westhampton Beach head coach Lenny Zaloga fully expected both squads to triumph in their finales, resulting in a split for the League VI title. It would give the Lady Hurricanes at least a share of the crown for the fourth straight season.

“We really wanted to keep the streak going,” said Zaloga. “We came in knowing that either Sayville would be the league champion or it would be a tie. We really concentrated on ball control over the last week and we were able to slow the ball down today, whereas in the first match we might have had to pass it over the net.”

In their first meeting on September 18, Westhampton Beach roared back from two games down to force a fifth, only to fall, 25-23, in the decisive set.

The Lady Hurricanes finished the job this time.

After dropping a gut-wrenching 26-24 third set, they imposed their will on the Lady Golden Flashes (14-2, 12-1 League VI) in the final two games. Kills by junior Cortina Green and senior Smiltene Jankunaite lifted Westhampton Beach to an early 9-3 lead en route to a comfortable win in the fourth. Then, with the set tied at 4-4 in the fifth, the Lady Canes ran off seven straight points to build a lead they never surrendered.

Zaloga said he was strategic in choosing the north side of the Sayville gym to start the fifth and final game on Wednesday. The first four games had been won on the gym’s south side, and it stayed true to form when Westhampton Beach closed out the Flashes on that side.

“My educated guess is that they probably practice on that side, so when they go to the other side, it’s almost like an away match,” he said.

Westhampton Beach senior Shannon Hewlett felt right at home down the stretch, putting away several of her team-high 23 kills—one shy of her career best—in the decisive game.

“The setter’s job is to look at the defense and find the best mismatch,” said Zaloga, praising fellow senior Emma Marino (37 assists). “Shannon was unconscious today.” In addition to Hewlett’s night, the Lady Canes got 13 kills from Green and eight more from Jankunaite. Defensively, they paid close attention to Sayville’s star Melanie O’Hoppe, who piled up 39 kills in the teams’ first meeting. Isabelle Smith led the defense and continued her strong season with 50 digs, which included her 1,000th career dig, becoming the first ever in school history to reach that milestone, as a sophomore. Zaloga presented Smith—who leads New York State in digs—with a ball marking the milestone prior to Friday’s match against Islip.

“She crushed us in the first match, so we really concentrated on how to defend her,” Zaloga said of O’Hoppe. “We didn’t think the right side could hurt us—they might get a kill or two, but [O’Hoppe] can get 30. We moved our defense and stacked our block against her.”

The teams ended their season having split 10 games over two matches. One noticeable difference is that Westhampton Beach won four of its five sets by double digits, something Sayville hasn’t been able to accomplish in the two meetings.

Wednesday’s match ended a tough road stretch for the Lady Canes, with six of the past seven matches coming away from home. Zaloga hopes that the win will earn his squad the No. 2 seed behind undefeated Kings Park in the Suffolk County Class A playoffs—which could begin Monday, October 30, if an outbracket game is needed—and thus a potential rubber match with Sayville in the county semifinals.