Kennedy Girls Volleyball Hits Wantagh Roadblock Again, Fall in County Finals

They had talent, teamwork, discipline and hardwork.

They had a season where they dispatched of opponents with ease.

Only one obstacle stood between this year's girls volleyball squad from Kennedy High School and the county championship – their conference nemesis, Wantagh. 

Despite taking the lead in all three games in Wednesday's Class A final at C.W. Post, the Lady Cougars had to settle for runner-up to Wantagh for the second straight year. 

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, beating Kennedy for the third time this season and earning the right to play for the Long Island championship on Saturday.

The box score – 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.

"They took it to us," Kennedy coach Allen Ma said. "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 a more or less perfect season – aside from their two losses to the Lady Warriors – there was a palpable sense among Lady Cougars supporters that the team might overcome their rivals in the county finals.

The game changer in the first game was a dramatic rebound for Wantagh. 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.

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– ran out to an 11-8 lead. But a highlight-film series of services from the Lady Warriors' Nicole Simeone, including six aces in a 9-point run, 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.

"My girls wanted it so bad," Wantagh coach Kate Lux said. "But 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."

Leading the way on attack for Wantagh was Jennie Ilibassi, with 11 kills, followed by Pennino with six. Bauman had five kills for Kennedy and Sam Sagendorph had eight assists.

"Our hitting wasn't as strong as it normally is," said coach Ma after the game. "We made some mistakes, but we worked hard to stay aggressive. This is a great rivalry, and hopefully there will be more matchups with Wantagh to come."