Wantagh Girls Volleyball Historic Season Ends

How does a hugely successful high school sports team draw the curtain down on their championship season? With heart, and a sense of history.

The Long Island champion girls volleyball team found out this weekend, capping what may very well have been the sports season of their collective lives, competing in state championships in Glens Falls against the best of the best in Conference A. And while the previous unbeaten Lady Warriors didn't make it to Sunday's final round, they came home with heads held high and a sure sense of just how special their season's been.

"We made history in Wantagh volleyball this year," said Wantagh head coach Kate McKeefrey. "We were undefeated county and Long Island champions. We made it to the states, the first time since nine years ago. And the girls played their hearts out."

After the opening ceremonies at 8 am, the Wantagh got to scout out the competiton live, watching Cornwall take on Pittsford Southerland in the first of a series of round-robin two-game matches

Their own first match was against Burnt Hills, where the Lady Warriors quickly found themselves in an unusual position -- they lost their two games to start off the day, and were already deep in a hole and facing two hugely talented teams.

"It was tough to play two games and that's it," said McKeefrey. "Our team tends to like five."

Wantagh split the next match, beating Cornwall 25-21 after a tough loss in the first. That put the Lady Warriors in the unenviable position of having to beat their third rival in the round robin series -- Pittsford Southerland -- twice in two games.

The task was just too big on this day. "We lost," said McKeefrey. "We should've won the first, but wound up losing it 25-20. The last game was 25-13."

"Losing was harder than we thought," said Jenna Greenberg, after the dust settled. "But we know that it is an honor to even have played in a state championship tournament."

The bottom line for the Warriors at the states was they were facing the best teams they'd seen all year, with the least information about them they'd ever had.

"The kids were trying to scout them out, looking at you tube videos, but you can only gather so much information and then you're in it," said McKeefrey. "They're so mentally tough and they wanted it so bad -- but we saw the highest level of performance in the state."

That mental toughness -- and heart -- showed afterwards.

"We were so proud of making it this far," said Nicole Kelly. "The teams we played were awesome and we definitely stayed neck and neck with them the whole time." 

Kelly said in the end, she said, Wantagh can use the experience at the state's to become even better. "Our program can only go up from here."

"We weren't upset about losing," agreed Christina Bush. "The weekend was an awesome experience."

"I couldn't be more proud," added Nicole Simeone. "We're not only a team, we are a family -- we love each other so much. We will remember this season the rest of our lives."