Kennedy Girls Volleyball Falls Short in Wantagh Rematch

Under most circumstances, one may think that being up two games to one in its final regular season match before the playoffs, the all but undefeated Kennedy girls volleyball team would be feeling pretty good about their situation.

But Thursday's showdown against perennial rival Wantagh wasn't ordinary circumstances.

In fact, it was probably the biggest game of the year so far.

Facing the only team they lost to this season, the Lady Cougars were unable to get 'payback' this time around–and saw a possible "W' and tie for first place in the regular season standing slip from their grasp–as the Wantagh Lady Warriors came from behind to preserve a perfect 9-0 regular season record and head into the playoffs as the top seed.

Like last time, both squads showed moments of real dominance. Like last time, both teams ran off strings of points. And like last time, it came down to a fifth game, with Wantagh getting the last big run to take the victory.

"It's all about momentum swings," Kennedy coach Allen Ma said. "They did a good job of stopping our runs, both teams did. But we weren't able to stop that run in the fifth game."

Kennedy (9-2) got off to a strong start at Wantagh High School, pulling up to a commanding 14-9 lead in game one before Wantagh climbed back into it on strong net work from Lauren Pennino and Nicole Kelly.

Before they could blink, things were knotted up at 16, 18 and 19– but then the Lady Cougars rode on the back of a strong series of services from Sam Sagendorph and Taylor Krug–coupled with four ringing kills from Stephanie Bauman. It remained for Heather Hulkower to set Keri Stalzer for a kill to make it 24-21, and a rattling kill of her own to seal the win in game one, 25-22.

Wantagh (11-0) picked itself up off the court in game two, however, and made it a contest. Pennino was good for three kills at the net, and served up a couple of points from the line, and and it was 17-8. Kennedy didn't seem to find its feet again until it was 23-14, and a strong set of serves from Stalzer to get it to 23-18 wasn't enough to keep Wantagh from taking game two, 25-18.

If any game showed both teams at their peak performance, it was game three–a seesaw battle that tipped Kennedy's way at the end, 26-24, to give the Lady Cougars the two games to one edge.

A big dig from Sagendorph followed by a Bauman block for a point made it 11-11, and after a nice run for Wantagh's Jen Ilibassi, Kennedy climbed back into it on five straight service points from Stalzer to tie things up at 21 apiece. Now it was Wantagh's turn to lose its rhythm, and a resurgent Lady Cougars squad looked to be in pretty good shape up two games to one on their opponent's floor.

But Wantagh-Kennedy is a rivalry between giants, it seems, and when giants collide, there's no telling what will come out of it.

This time around, the Lady Warriors came roaring back in game four. The combined efforts of Sagendorph and Bauman on attack could do little more than keep it close til 10-13, when Wantagh went on a run featuring kills from Ilibassi and Jessica Greenberg–and a double block for Nicole Simione and Loretta O'Brien.

Suddenly, it was 18-11 and Wantagh never looked back. Four service points in a row for Nicole Kelly fueled a 25-16 game victory for the Lady Warriors, and the 2-2 match went into a game five overdrive.

Unfortunately for the Lady Cougars, it was Wantagh who hit the ground running in the finale. Christina Bush rattled off seven service points in a row early, and after Bauman made things interesting with a good half dozen kills and blocks mid-game, Bush stepped back up to the line to notch four more, including an ace at 22-12, and seal the match victory.

"Our two teams have a great rivalry, and to me, that keeps it fun and exciting," Wantagh coach Katie Lux said after the game. "We keep studying each other and analyzing each other's moves. We watched game tapes from last time around to see what we did wrong, so I guess we were mentally prepared today."

Coach Ma was gracious after the game.

"Our girls played a good match–it was fun," he said. "Now we're going to go back to the gym and work hard for the playoffs."

And what about a third shot at Wantagh?

"Sure, we'd like to meet Wantagh again, but first we have to get there," Ma said. "There'll be some great opponents in the playoffs, so we'll take it one match at a time."