Cougars Volleyball Keeps Rolling With Win Over West Hempstead

The Kennedy High volleyball team continued its path toward winning back-to-back county championships Thursday afternoon, knocking off visiting West Hempstead by sweeping all three games.

The big men did the job for the Cougars up front, as Ben Hirschler contributed 15 kills, while Brendan Mills added 12 of his own.

The Cougars have yet to lose a game in any of their two matches so far, and are certainly playing like a team on a mission.

"We were big at the net today," coach Allen Ma said. "The big guys did a nice job sealing the block, and the defense played very nice around them. Overall the team is communicating well, playing hard, and we're gelling well."

The team got off to a quick start in game one, as Jon Meschnik spiked a ball past the West Hempstead defenders to put the Cougars up, 12-7. Brian O'Gorman and Mills had back-to-back kills to extend the lead to 15-12. After the team went on a run behind server Matt Lawner, who had five aces on the day, Hirschler would serve an ace of his own to claim the final point as the Cougars won, 25-16.

"I thought we played fairly well today," Hirschler said. "We double-blocked in the middle and covered them well. At times we looked good and at times we looked a little shaky, but overall we played a good game and hopefully we continue to play the way we are."

The second game was much closer, as Danny Minto had a pair of blocks early in the game to help West Hempstead jump to an early lead. But the Cougars would come back and tie the game at 14 after a kill by O'Gorman.  After West Hempstead sent a towering free-ball over to the Cougars side, Mills promptly slammed it right back to give his team a 23-17 lead, and they would go on to win the game 25-19.

"We definitely outsized and outmuscled them," Mills said. "The setting was on, the passing was on, and we were putting the ball in the right spots and it worked out to our benefit."

The Cougars kept rolling in game three, as they jumped out to an early 3-0 lead behind server Dylan Simonson. After setter Jesse Forman set up a perfect kill for Andrew Hirsch, Ben Canarich would block a West Hempstead spike-attempt to put the Cougars up 17-8. They would not relent until the final point, when Hirschler recorded his 15th kill off a set from Rob Russo to end the game, 25-16.

Even West Hempstead coach Andrew Wilson was impressed with the Cougars' play.

"[Kennedy] kept putting the ball away and played really well," Wilson said. "They deserved to win and we weren't too competitive as far as trying to attack, and we were sloppy with the ball. They took advantage of it and they deserved it."

The Cougars may be on the warpath, but Ma doesn't want to get too excited just yet.

"It's still early in the season so there are a lot of things to work on if we want to reach our final goals," Ma said. "But as of right now we're very pleased with how hard they're working in practice, and it's all paying off right now."

The Cougars will look to keep it rolling when they host Lawrence in their next game at 4:30 p.m. on Monday.