Westhampton’s Boys Volleyball Team Gives ESM Its All In County Championship Loss

The verve and ambition was there for the Westhampton Beach boys volleyball team Saturday, the Hurricanes just simply fell short in a 3-1 Suffolk County title game loss to Eastport-South Manor — 22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 10-25.

“Our energy was fantastic. We were so happy to be here,” said senior libero Carter Papagni, who finished the game with 14 digs and an ace. “We played a great game. I feel all the way through we played amazing — they just played a little bit better.”

Although Westhampton Beach (13-3) had just fallen to the Sharks, 3-1, in the last game of the regular season, winning the first set instead of the second, the Hurricanes made it a point to get straight to work knowing the two would most likely meet again.

“We studied off and on the court. We played hard the entire week. We had this drive — we wanted to beat them, and knew that we could from the film,” said senior outside hitter Hank Scherer, who amassed 12 digs, eight kills and an ace. “We wanted to shut down their outsides. We wanted to put them out of their system, get that setter moving outside and force no middle.”

That game plan worked in the first few sets, with the Hurricanes driving ESM (13-2) to make back-to-back-to-back errors in some cases, spiking the ball out of bounds at the sidelines as they shifted away from center court.

Westhampton Beach bounced out to a 5-0 start to open the match, which included a couple of those forced errors and a Conor Farnan ace (33 assists, 12 digs, two aces, a kill and a block assist). But the Sharks slowly closed the set until the set was tied 13. The two teams also evened the score at 14-all, 16-all, 17-all and 19-all, but ESM was able to earn the last few points of the first set off a dump, a kill and a pair of Hurricanes double-hit violations. The second set started off much closer, but a Declan Kerns-Joe Green Jr. combo block, and back-to-back Daniel Haber kills closed out the win. Haber racked up six kills in that set alone.

“We kept our energy high. When we’d get one point we’d act like it was the biggest point in the world,” said Haber, a junior outside and middle hitter who tied for a game-high 20 kills and added eight digs and a block assist. “We were cutting down on their runs and siding-out [ending a team’s right to serve] when we needed to.”

He too said the strategizing was crucial, but the game plan didn’t last for long.

“We spent at least half our practices going over film, talking about different positioning. When they’re hitting downline, we wanted to take a step in because of their formation … but this game they switched it up, were going deep, which is something we didn’t prepare for, but we tried adjusting.”

Papagni said despite the losses in the last couple of sets, he’s proud of his team maintaining momentum the whole way through.

“I think a lot of people counted us out with no [Ryan] Barnett, [a junior hitter and top-kill earner last season who transferred to Florida], but this is probably the best record we’ve ever had,” the senior said. “These are great guys, starter or not — every guy here is amazing and does their job.”

“I couldn’t have asked for a better season. We were lucky to have one in the first place, and I really feel like we played the best we could,” Scherer added. “We had a great time. Being a part of this team has been a great experience overall.”

First-year head coach Josh Tuttle, a 2009 ESM graduate, was pleased to see his Hurricanes, like Papagni said, never give up.

“I’m proud of the fight that we had in us. We did what we could do,” Tuttle said. “It was a matter of who could make some better adjustments. We’ve got to give credit to a good ESM team. We didn’t lose, they beat us.”

The coach said he’s also loved the leadership seniors Papagni and Scherer have shown, and said the other boys will have some big shoes to fill, but added he’s looking forward to seeing his returners working hard again this offseason and in practice to pick up where they left off, with the hope of reclaiming the county title the Hurricanes won in 2019.

“I’m looking forward to continue to grow as a coach myself, and work with a bunch of returners next year,” Tuttle said. “But these boys earned their spot in the county finals this year.”

Many of those student-athletes were first-year varsity players this season. Haber attested to that dedication, and said he and his teammates will make sure to put the work in.

“This obviously doesn’t feel the greatest, but we’re going to come back even stronger,” the junior said. “The transition from junior varsity to varsity is insane for anyone, and these guys made it look easy. I know with all this added experience we’re going to come back better than ever.”