Wantagh Girls Volleyball Edges Kennedy in County Title Rematch

For four and a half games, the outcome of Tuesday's seesaw battle between the Wantagh Lady Warriors and Kennedy Lady Cougars, played on the floor of the Kennedy-Bellmore HS volleyball court, was in doubt.

A classic reboot of last year's county championships, the hotly contested match was all about surges and runs, with Kennedy winning set one, Wantagh sets two and three, and Kennedy roaring back to take set four.

As a large and voluble crowd of fans from both sides watched, game five offered up the prospect of two heavyweight teams going toe to toe, as -- tied at two sets apiece -- the evenly matched squads knotted the score fully eight times before changing sides at 13-12 for the last push.

As the volleyball gods would have it, the last surge of the afternoon belonged to Wantagh, who is now a perfect 5-0 on the young season.

Razor-sharp and accurate kills from Anna Pauliti, Jenny Ilibassi. Carla Simione and Lauren Peninno -- and a mid-court game that featured some astonishing digs from Carissa Gagliano, Nicole Simione and Christina Bush - put Wantagh up 17-14, 20-15. After a second time-out for Kennedy, Ilibassi rattled off three of her four winning serves in a row, and it came down to a kill from tenth grader Carly Simione to put a ribbon on the victory.

Throughout, it was hard to tell who would come out on top, however. In game one, the Lady Cougars looked the sharper and more focused team, riding to an early lead on the strength of fierce network from Stephanie Bauman and service wins for Sam Sagendorph to go up 8-4. Wantagh crept back into it and tied game one at 14, 15, 19 and 21 apiece, but a rally from Kennedy -- featuring an ace from Jamie Demmett and kills on the line by Demmett and Heather Hulkower resulted in the 25-22 Lady Cougar win.

It was a sign of things to come, as tightly knotted games two and three both went Wantagh's way. Game four went down to the wire too. The two teams were tied up at 22 each, but three straight service wins from Taylor Krug -- punctuated by a reverberating net kill for Bauman -- gave Kennedy the 25-22 set and a 2-2 match.

It remained for both determined teams to slug it out in round five before the victor could be determined.

"This was the same kind of match as last year when we beat Kennedy in the county finals," said Wantagh coach Katie Lux. "These are two evenly matched teams, and we enjoy playing against them. You have to be mentally tough to win a match like this, and it came down to whoever wanted it more."

Members of the clearly ebullient Wantagh squad agreed. "We knew they'd be fired up so we had to play at a different level altogether," said Nicole Simione. "We played well last year on this court in the county finals, and knew we had to overcome the crowd."

"We had to be all over the place," added Wantagh's Nicole Kelly. "We had to help each other and play as a team."

Kennedy coach Allen Ma spoke on behalf his players, as his team cooled off in a darkened corridor just off the court. "It was a great match against the defending champions," said coach Allen Ma. "I'm proud of our girls. Every point has to be fought for in a game like this and it was exciting," he said. "When two great teams meet, it's going to come down to runs."

This time around, it was Wantagh who found themselves on top at the end of the last run -- and both coaches said they were looking forward to the two team's meeting again in the last game of the regular season at Wantagh on Oct,. 28.

The Lady Warriors are next in action on Oct. 13 at Lynbrook starting at 5 p.m.

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