6 Photos
The Hurricanes during the national anthem prior to Saturday's county semifinal match. DREW BUDD
Do the hokey pokey! The Hurricanes pregame routine includes doing the hokey pokey. DREW BUDD
Do the hokey pokey! The Hurricanes pregame routine includes doing the hokey pokey. DREW BUDD
Westhampton Beach junior Aaron Kiefer records a dig. DREW BUDD
Westhampton Beach senior Seth Terry sets the ball. DREW BUDD
Westhampton Beach senior Casey Sidor tips the ball over the net. DREW BUDD
They’ve wanted the Sharks all season, and it’s the Sharks they’re going to get.
After defeating Bayport-Blue Point, 3-0, in the Suffolk County Division II semifinals on Saturday at home, the Westhampton Beach boys volleyball team faced rival Eastport-South Manor once again for the county championship on Wednesday at Center Moriches High School. Results of that match occurred too late to appear in this week’s edition of The Press, but can be found at 27east.com and in next week’s edition.
Westhampton Beach head coach Josh Tuttle said his team’s most recent playoff victory, along with its 12-2 regular season record, one of the top finishes in program history, certainly had it confident going into its biggest match of the season against a Sharks team that only finished one game ahead of his in the standings and dispatched East Islip in three sets to win the other semifinal.
“Our boys are feeling good going into the championship!” he said. “Our 12 wins have given us confidence. Our two hard-fought losses have shown us things to improve upon. We’ve been gearing up for a playoff run the whole season. We’ve certainly had this county finals date and match-up circled on our calendars. We have a great deal of respect for ESM, but even more confidence in our team’s ability to bring home the win.”
To Bayport’s credit, it brought a high-level of energy into Saturday’s semifinal at Westhampton Beach, but the ’Canes led for the majority, if not all, of the three sets, winning, 25-20, 25-21, 25-16. Will Jankowski once again led the offense with 12 kills and chipped in on defense, too, with eight digs. Casey Sidor had six kills and nine digs and Alex Kelly finished with five kills. Seth Terry finished with 26 assists, seven digs and four kills. Libero Aaron Kiefer led the team with 13 digs.
“Bayport played hard and brought a lot of energy throughout the entire match,” Tuttle said. “We had to keep working for points from start to finish so they definitely made us earn it. It was a good playoff environment. It wasn’t the most cleanly played game on our side, but in the end, our offense was too much to stop.”
