Mepham Boys Volleyball Drops to 0-3

The Mepham Pirates lost their first two games of this young season, but looked to pick up their first win against the Freeport Red Devils. Unfortunately for them, they were unable to accomplish this, as they fell to Freeport in four sets on Wednesday afternoon at Mepham High School.

Mepham lost the first set 25-22, and it looked as though this match would be closer than it turned out, despite the size advantage Freeport had. 

"They're bigger, they're faster, they're stronger, and we're smaller," Mepham Coach Dan Bloomfield. "That's going to be our whole problem this year. We're a team full of sophomores and we're a smaller team so we've go to play defense."

There was definitely a lack of defense in the second set, as the Red Devils beat the Pirates 25-13. Perhaps in spite of their play in the second set, Mepham rallied late in the third to win it 26-24, and bring the match to a fourth set.

"They got a lot better as the match went on. I think they started waking up and communicating with each other better," Bloomfield said.

The fourth set was a seesaw battle the entire way, but the Pirates came up just short falling to the Red Devils 25-23.

But no matter what the situation, Mepham's two co-captains certainly proved that they deserve and earned those titles. Sophomore Andrew Vocaturo was the vocal leader of the team throughout the match, even during the most trying times.

"I knew I had faith in my team and I had confidence in all of them to step it up and actually play a good team and not bicker and complain with each other," said Vocaturo.

Fellow sophomore Roger Borger lead by example, hustling and diving all over the court.

"I knew that if I showed a little effort my teammates would build off of that and try harder to improve and score more points," he added.

The Pirates will look to continue the way they played in the last two sets of this match against their next opponents, Valley Stream North, on Friday at Mepham High School.