Girls' Volleyball Faces New Challenges in County's Top Division

It’s not exactly a whole new world for Long Beach High School girls’ volleyball. But the move from Class AA to A, which brings a new set of opponents from the biggest schools around, gives the Marines a chance to find out what their storied program can do against the likes of Wantagh, JFK-Bellmore, Herricks and Manhasset.

“Schools we never played before,” said coach Kerry Rehnback. “We’re the new kids on the block. But we expect to win all the time, we play to win and put everything on the line.”

TEAM NAME: Long Beach Marines

2010 RECORD: 11-6 county finalists

DIVISION: Class A

COACH Kerry Rehnback, 7 years

PLAYERS TO WATCH

• Patricia Murphy (senior), outside hitter

• Haley Crane (senior), setter

• Katherine Meyers (junior), outside hitter

• Jacke Zeppa (junior), right side hitter

BREAKDOWN

Long Beach has graduated Chelsea Braga, an all-state performer, and Jessica Amen, so there will be some big shoes to fill this season.  

“But there are veteran leaders out there, who can control the offense,” Rehnback said.

Murphy and Crane, co-captains for the Marines, are the guts of the team. “But I’m expecting the juniors to produce more offense,” the coach said. “Meyers and Zeppa are three-year players. They‘ll need to step up and seek out the role.”

EXPECTATIONS

Long Beach faithful will bet a chance to see who’ll get the surprise this season — the new kids on the block, or the old ones.

“I guess change is good,” Rehnback said. “We don’t know these teams now, but second time around we’ll have more knowledge. For now we just have to be ready to attack first, make them play catch up with us.”

One thing Rehnback is confident of is that her team will be ready to play Long Beach ball.

“The kids are ready to go all the way,” she said. “That’s always our goal — it should be with all the volleyball we play around here. It’s not good enough to just be there. We‘ll play to win every single match, ride it and see how far it can take us.”

SCHEDULE

The names are new, but the game’s the same. The Marines have one Class A match under their belt, with a five game win against Herricks on Monday night — so each matchup will prove a new adventure for Long Beach volleyball.

“We haven’t scouted these other teams, but we’ve seen them at some tournaments,” Rehnback said.

Wantagh — which went to states last year — is on the schedule Oct. 3 at 5 pm at home. The talented Warriors are also on the schedule for the regular season finale, which could prove big.