Wantagh Girls Volleyball Repeats as Nassau County Champions

Despite falling behind in all three games in the Nassau County Class A finals against Bellmore-Kennedy at CW Post, the Wantagh girls volleyball team was able to claw, scratch and kill their way past the Lady Cougars to earn the right to move on to the Long Island championships.

In a match that was destined to be won by the team that was able to gain command of its game and keep it, Wantagh prevailed at CW Post, beating Kennedy in the Nassau County championship for the second year in a row and for the third time this season.

The set scores of 26-24, 25-17 and 25-20 -- does little to reflect the intensity of play between two exceptional teams at the top of their conference, only one of which could be declared the champions.

"My girls wanted it so bad," said Wantagh head coach Katie McKeefrey. "In a big game, players tend to get overexcited, and make mistakes. I told them to stop making it so interesting and put the ball away. Stop thinking and just play."

"They took it to us," said Kennedy coach Allen Ma. "You have to give credit to Wantagh. Not to take away from our girls, they had a lot of pressure on them and they answered the call."

Having run up an undefeated record in conference play -- including handing two losses to the Lady Warriors this season -- there was a palpable sense among Lady Warriors supporters that, despite the high level of play that Kennedy had to offer, this was a matchup their team could handle.  

In fact, Kennedy gave the Warriors a run for their money, taking the lead in each of the three games, before Wantagh clawed their way back into it and won each of them.

"We've played JFK a lot," said Wantagh's setter Christine Bush. "They came into the game really stoked. In the beginning, if you get a little bit of a lead, you let up, and they come back at you. They're not a team to do that with."

The match was a series of rebound opportunities for the Lady Warriors, each one of which they converted with character and class.

With neither team playing their best game in the opening set, the Lady Warriors, down 23-19, put a damper in the fired up Kennedy girls, going on a 7-1 run to take the first one by a 26-24 margin. Keying the rebound win was a series of winning services from Chelsea Brager, punctuated by kills from Laura Pennino and Nicole Simeone.

Wantagh came out firing on all cylinders early in the second set, before Kennedy found its footing and -- on the strength of a couple of aces from Stephanie Bauman, the Lady Warriors fell to an 11-8 defecit. But a highlight-film series of services from Nicole Simeone, including six aces in a 9 point run, Wantagh put a hole in any comeback attempt the Lady Cougars might have thought to mount.

Game three was the scrappiest of them all, with the two teams knotted at 11 before Wantagh ran out to a 20-16 lead.

With their backs to the wall, the Lady Cougars threw what they had left in them into the fray -- with big kills from Bauman and strong services from Jamie Demmett. But the handwriting was on the wall -- Wantagh pulled away, and the final nail in the coffin came on a Lauren Pennino kill, off a Nicole Kelly set, for the 25-21 win and the three game sweep.

Leading the way on attack for Wantagh was Jennie Ilibassi, with eleven kills, followed by Pennino with six.  Three players led the Lady Warriors in sets -- Nicole Kelly with seven, Carly Simeone with six, and Christina Bush with five.

"Our hitting wasn't as strong as it normally is," said Coach Ma after the game. "But this is a great rivalry, and hopefully there'll be more matchups with Wantagh to come."

He'll have to wait for next season -- Wantagh awaits the outcome of action in Suffolk County to determine who they'll be playing for the Long Island Championship on Saturday.