Smithtown East Outlasts Lindenhurst for Suffolk Title

With four games in the books and nothing between the two top volleyball teams in Suffolk County, Smithtown East had entered into familiar territory: "Delia Time."

That's what Head Coach George Alamia calls clutch moments late in games, a reference to his star captain, Delia Phillips.

She responded exactly how he knew she would, with six kills in the final game as the Bulls earned their first Class AA volleyball championship over Lindenhurst, 3-2 (25-20, 18-25, 15-25, 25-16, 25-18)

"Maggie Engellenner and Delia Phillips, they’ll bring you to the promised land," said Alamia. "I’m proud of all of them. We did this for the alumni, too. We’ve been close before, but now we did it."

The Bulls (17-2) found themselves on the brink of elimination after losing games two and three, but rallied to win game four and force a final game.

"We kind of got into a huddle, and I said, ‘We worked so hard this year,’" said Phillips. "We couldn’t end it in four; we just had to give it our all."

Unlike the first three Lindenhurst (16-3) failed to jump out to an early lead in game four, and struggled to find rhythm offensively.

"We did the little things better in that game," said Alamia. "We covered the block well; we didn’t trip. The difference in that game was our block up."

Phillips took control of the fifth game as Smithtown built a 14-8 lead against a tiring Lindenhurst squad that was unable to keep the furious pace they had played with through the first three games.

"At Smithtown East we don’t like to focus on the individual play," said the humble Bulls star, who registered 28 kills while Engellenner accumulated 40 digs. "But as a team we got together...and that’s what won us the last game."

In the end, despite falling in the , Lindenhurst Head Coach was still very proud of her 's despite falling one game short of the county title, at Saint Joseph's College.

"They broke records that most never do," she said. "We beat John Glenn at their home. They hadn’t lost in 20 years on the Island. wasn’t in the county finals for the first time in the last nine seasons. It was a great ."

The Bulls advance to play Massapequa in the Long Island Championship game on Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. at Saint Joseph's.