Massapequa Girls Win 11th Straight Volleyball Championship

Maybe it should be death, taxes and the girls volleyball team.

The Chiefs added to an impressive season in their usual fashion, winning the Nassau County Class AA girls volleyball title game at C.W. Post on Wednesday. The 25-12, 25-18, 25-14 win over Long Beach gave coach Carolann Habeeb-Kiel, her 11th championship in as many seasons.

"My girls played hard today, even harder than the past two weeks," Habeeb-Kiel said after the match. "We had a lot of teamwork and motivation, and we worked hard."

Massapequa had a balanced attack with five hitters with five or more kills on the day, while the Marines were led at the net by two main hitters: Chelsea Braga, with 11 kills, and Patricia Murphy, who chipped in seven.

"We knew what Braga can do, and we were ready for them," said Massapequa setter Kristen Marchisotto. "Long Beach played well, they set up their plays well; we had to step it up today."

The Chiefs did have a good track record with East Meadow in the regular season, beating them twice – including a three set victory in the regular season finale – but the Marines gave them a fight early on.

Long Beach keyed up and played tough in game one to a 7-7 tie before Massapequa got a run of six service winners from Erin Bies.

A few consecutive service errors for Long Beach enabled Massapequa to extend the run into the hands of server Joanne Josephson, who ran off a string of six herself to put the first game out of reach.

Game two also looked to have a Long Beach tilt to it, as good sets from Haley Crane (16 assists) enabled Braga and Murphy to spike their team to a 13-9 lead.

But the Chiefs found their footing at that point, riding a string of service wins by Heather Sweeney (4 in a row) and Ashley Gubista (8 in a row) to a decisive 23-18 score. Two aces from the hands of Bies, and the Chiefs were sitting pretty at 2-0.

To their credit, Long Beach had no quit in them despite being down to the undefeated conference leaders. While falling behind 12-5, Braga gave her team a lift with a dramatic six-win service run, including two aces, and Massapequa called a time out with a slim 12-11 lead.

But that was as close as Long Beach would come. Marchisotto rattled off five service winners of her own, and it remained for the Chiefs to take it all — game 3, the match and the county crown — on two rattling kills from Heather Sweeney.

 For Long Beach, after battling through a season of mixed accomplishments, the prospect of facing 10-time county champ couldn't have been an inviting one.

"We had a great season, but Massapequa came up big today," said Long Beach coach Kerry Rehnback. "We served well, but we didn't pass well, and we didn't minimize our errors."