Mepham Girls Volleyball Loses Heartbreaker to Elmont

The Mepham Lady Pirates girls volleyball team took it to the limit Thursday against the Elmont Spartans, losing an incredibly close five-game match that lasted over two hours.

After the smoke cleared, the final score was 25-21, 25-27, 24-26, 25-16, 22-25.

Mepham started out strong in the first game. The stand-out player of the match, Shannon McLean, displayed her volleyball prowess by nailing the first ace of the match on her serve early on. She later made several big spikes, each one finding their mark on the Elmont court; the first set went to the Lady Pirates, 25-21.

Game two saw Elmont starting to make a lot of unforced errors, handing Mepham several points. But the Spartans started to tighten up their game mid-set, taking the lead. The Lady Pirates pressed the attack, coming back from 18-23 to tie the match 25-25. However, Elmont claimed the set, 27-25.

Game three was Mepham's early on, with four points being earned on Danielle Replogle's service game alone. Elmont pulled ahead, but the Lady Pirates managed to tie it up at 21-21. The gameplay was intense; both teams were really going for broke. However, game three belonged to Elmont, 26-24.

The fourth game saw the Spartans taking advantage of the Lady Pirates' somewhat suspect service game ... at least, until Joanna Wells started firing off bombs into their court. With her help, Mepham tied the game 13-13; then they pulled ahead, remaining in the lead to easily claim the game, 25-16.

Game five was big; you could see it in each player's face. This was the tightest game of the match, with Mepham and Elmont neck-and-neck the entire time. The heart and determination displayed by the Lady Pirates was inspiring, but in the end, Elmont won the game and the match, 25-22.

Mepham head coach Dan Bloomfield was clearly spent after the blistering match.

"The girls played hard ... I can't blame them for not hustling," he said. "We missed out on some serves. Really, one or two points here or there changes that whole match. But we've got one more match tomorrow, against Valley Stream [South]."

Bloomfield added: "If Valley Stream loses today to Division, and if we beat Valley Stream tomorrow, we win the tie-breaker. We'll have beat them twice head-to-head, and then we're in. But if Valley Stream wins today, it's over."

Unfortunately for the Bloomfield and the Lady Pirates, Valley Stream South had already swept Division in three sets on Thursday, knocking Mepham out of the playoffs in the process.

The pain of coming so close to victory, only to lose at the last second, took its emotional toll on the Lady Pirates, who were too upset to give comments post-game. Most quickly packed their gear and exited the gym.

However, junior varsity volleyball coach Nicole Dagro gave voice to what the Mepham ladies must have been feeling.

"I think they played a very hard game," she said. "I think they all put their hearts into it, and they're all really upset they lost. But it was a very good, competitive game."

Mepham, now 4-7, hosts Valley Stream South for the final game of the season today at 4:30 p.m.