Kennedy Boys Volleyball Clipped in LI Title Game

On the program of the Long Island Class B boys volleyball finals read this quote:

"Success is the peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best." –John Wooden

After seeing the five-game championship thriller, eventually won by the Easport-South Manor Sharks over Kennedy–23-25, 25-22, 26-24, 22-25, 25-21–it's hard to say only one team succeeded on Saturday.

The final game, held in the gymnasium of Longwood High School in Middle Island, was indicative of the whole match; a back-and-forth slugfest where both teams dug deep to keep it close.

Unfortunately for the Cougars, close wasn't enough. Facing match point, down 24-17, the Cougars embarked on a four-point run with hopes of duplicating the county championship clinching game over Floral Park from Thursday.

"We caught them at the end of the game in a weak rotation," Kennedy head coach Dennis Ringel said. "So we knew if we put pressure on them we were going to be able to creep back in there."

The final play came to an end rather aburptly as the Cougars forced the serve past the backline and out of bounds. The Sharks stormed their teammates as the Cougars congratulated themselves on a season well done.

Not one Kennedy player hung their head.

"Even when we were down eight points at the end, we kept fighting," Hirschler said. "After working with coach Ringel and my teammates for four years, I couldn't be more proud of everyone."

Missed serves and the Sharks capitalizing on Cougar miscues, allowed Eastport-South Manor to go on an eight-point run in the final game, pushing their lead to 14-6. That was the largest stretch of consecutive points by either team all match.

"One of our philosophies all year has been to serve aggressively, block aggressively and take people out of their positions," Ringel said. "And when it works, it works out very well. Unfortunately, in that last game, we just missed too many serves."

Sharks head coach, Bruce Stiriz, was impressed by the Kennedy team, which forced the Sharks out of their usual style of play.

"We had a lot of errors today," Stiriz said. "It may have been due to Kennedy tipping the ball in a lot of areas we didn't expect and that kind of threw us off our game. But we really started to get in rhythm on the fifth game. Up until then we really hadn't. We were all over the place, and didn't really have a set pattern.  [Rhythm and set patterns] are really our game."

Stiriz can thank the long arms of the 6-foot-10 Brian O'Gorman, Kennedy's senior co-captain, for the majority of those tipped balls. All match long he, with help from front line mates Jacob Tabman and Justin Scarpa, was blocking spikes and dumping sets all over the court.

"When we fell back as many points as we did, we told ourselves in the huddle that we're not going to lose this way," O'Gorman said. "And we came back and left everything we had on the court. They were the better team today."

Kennedy senior libero Dylan Simonson continued his strong defensive play as the backbone of the defensive back line.

Eastport-South Manor's John Bohnenblusch provided the spark the Sharks were missing with his power spikes and a last-second lunging dig well past the back line to keep the play alive. Senior Brendan Tutino provided the precense up front with his strength.

Eastport-South Manor will travel up to Cicero-North Syracuse High School to compete in the state championships on Nov. 20.

The Cougars will have to settle for a third straight county championship this year.  And that is certainly nothing to hang their heads about. 

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