Wantagh Girls Volleyball Turns Back Garden City Challenge in County Semis

Garden City came out swinging and left it all on the court, but it was the deep bench and resilient talent of defending Long Island champion Wantagh that won the day in the semi-final round of the Nassau County Class A girls volleyball playoffs Friday evening.

The top ranked and undefeated Lady Warriors, who seemed outplayed in a first game loss, regrouped, stuck to their game, and took three games in a row to beat fifth seed Garden City by set scores of 17-25, 25-22, 25-22 and 25-12.

“Im proud of our team,” said Garden City coach Phil Opinante after the match. “Wantagh is a very talented team, but we had them off balance for awhile.”

“They wanted it more than us,” said Wantagh coach Katie McKeefrey referring to the Lady Warriors performance at the start of Saturday's semifinal match. “Once again, I needed to remind our team that they have to go get it, or go home. Fortunately, we stuck together as a team.”

Things looked rough for the Lady Warriors in the early going, as Garden City came out on fire and built a commanding five point lead at 13-8 before Wantagh could find its feet. A good stretch of serves from Lauren Pennino got things knotted up at 14 apiece, but Garden City went on a 11-3 run to take game one, on the strength of huge outside hitting from Emily LaCorte and Annie Hall, and strong service from Morgan Taylor.

Game two was a tense affair as well, knotted up eight times before Wantagh could put a little daylight between themselves and the pesky Garden City squad. The Lady Warrior’s big run in the second game came on a big series of kills for Jenn Lipski, Anna Paulik, Jen Ilibassi and a dink from Carly Simeone to make it 23-19. Garden City got to within two but a nice set from Simeone to Lauren Pennino provided the game winner, and the match was tied at one apiece.

Despite playing without the services of outside hitter Noelle Bryne, Garden City hung around in game three coming back from several deficiets to tie things up at 18 apiece -- and actually go up 20-18.

But Wantagh demonstrated at that point that it’s championship caliber teams don’t lose their game for very long -- and after tying things up on a Simeone dink, took game three home on a succession of kills from Paulik, Lipski, Ilibassi and Lipski again for the 25-22 win -- and a commanding 2-1 lead.

With Garden City fading, it was a matter of taking things home. Strong service from Gabrielle DiMeglio and Gerri Sciolto put Wantagh up 7-3, and with Peninno and Ilibassi increasingly dominating, it was too much for Garden City -- with the score 18-12, Ilibassi served the next seven winners, including an ace to wrap things up, and Wantagh took the victory.

On the day, Sciolto had 33 digs; Simeone had 34 assists and 16 digs; and Jenn Lipski had 7 digs, seven blocks and five kills. Sophomore Gabrielle DiMeglio finished with 11 kills and 18 digs.

“DiMeglio was the glue that kept us going today,” said McKeefrey. “We looked to her, and she got the job done.”

For Garden City, a strong outing for LaCorte with 24 kills, was supplemented by strong play from Kristen Steinhardt, Annie Hall and Morgan Taylor; and by setters Jackie Jahelka and Jackie Seskin.

“Taylor served like a maniac, and Steinhardt played a good all around game,” said Opinante. “Wantagh was just too deep.”

Wantagh will go for the Nassau County Class A title this Thursday against South Side at SUNY Old Westbury starting at 6:30 p.m.