Cougars Begin Title Defense With Volleyball Win Over Roslyn

The Kennedy High Cougars successfully began the process of defending their county volleyball championship yesterday, defeating Roslyn three games to none.

It may have been the first game of the season, but the visiting Cougars looked to be in midseason form.

Brendan Mills had 12 kills in the game, while Brian O'Gorman added six of his own. Jon Meschnik had six digs in the back row as he played a large part in setting up most of those kills.

"It was our first league match and we knew what to expect," Meschnik said. "We came out well. If we keep this up we'll make it to the promised land."

The promised land Meschnik is referring to is the county championship, something that the team accomplished just one year ago under coaches Allen Ma and Dennis Ringel.

"I thought our blocking was big early and our jump serves came along over the course of the game," Ringel said. "Brendan Mills had something like 12 kills which really helped. We had our moments and we were able to overcome some runs that Roslyn made."

The Cougars breezed through the first game, winning 25-13. Although they misfired on several serves throughout the game, they were able to compensate with their strong front row play. Meshnick had a particularly powerful slam that put the Cougars up 14-9, and then the game ended on a spike from Andrew Hirsch after he received a perfect ball from setter Ryan Pastuch.

The second game was a bit closer, 25-19.  Jacob Tabman blocked a Roslyn spike attempt to put the Cougars up 9-5, but the Bulldogs battled back and managed to trim the deficit to a single point at 18-17.

Ma was forced to call a timeout to calm his team down, and the team responded by winning five straight points behind server Jesse Forman. The game ended with back-to-back spikes by Mills, two of his 12 kills on the day.

"I think the diggers on our team got the ball up really well right to the setter," Mills said. "This allowed the setter to get better sets, which allowed the hitters to hit the ball even harder than we normally do."

Game three was the closest of all, as the teams went back and forth until the Cougars finally pulled away at the end to take the game, 25-21.

The game was tied 20-20 when Roslyn sent a free ball over the net that O'Gorman promptly spiked right back to give his team the lead. O'Gorman then gave his team the final point of the day by blocking a Roslyn spike attempt to end the game and give the Cougars the sweep.

Coach Ringel was satisfied with the team's play, but insisted that there is still a little fine-tuning that needs to be done.

"I thought we executed pretty well," Ringel said. "Overall we need to display a different level of consistency throughout the year in order to keep being successful. We're going to look to make those bright areas more consistent."

The Cougars continue their title defense next Thursday when they host West Hempstead.