Smithtown West Girls Volleyball Beats Patchogue-Medford, Lindenhurst Next

With the Raiders cutting the Bulls' 12-point lead in half with just five points to go, the Smithtown West girl's varsity volleyball team toughened up and finished off Patchogue-Medford. With just one point left and the lead at seven, Nicolette Heldberg scored the final kill of the match to clinch the first round playoff victory and send the Bulls to the quarterfinals.

After winning the first two games, the Bulls defeated a tough Raiders' team in four games for a 3-1 win that sends the Bulls to a semifinal showdown with a Lindenhurst, a team that went 11-0 in League II play to earn a No.1 seed.

The first game was a battle in which neither team led by more than three points until the Bulls took a late 23-19 lead before closing out a 25-20 win.

The Bulls took a 15-8 lead in the second game before the Raiders came back to tie it at 20. The Bulls rattled off four straight points and were one point away from victory, but the Raiders answered back with four straight points themselves, capped with an ace by Amanda Dill to tie it at 24. The Bulls followed the bend-but-don't-break strategy that seemed to be a theme of the match and finished off the Raiders with two straight points for a 26-24 win to go up 2-0.

"I thought we passed the ball really well in the first and second games and that allows us to run our offense," said Bulls head coach Deron Brown.

The Raiders dominated the Bulls in a 25-14 game three victory to set up a pivotal fourth game. West looked as if it was on its way to an easy win in the fourth game by taking a 20-8 lead thanks to key serves by Lauren Flicker. Flicker had seven kills, four aces and five digs in the win.

"In the beginning of the fourth game the serving was right where we needed it to be," Brown said. "We were hitting our spots and really dictated what they could do offensively. We took their middle out of the game by hitting a certain spot on the floor."

Their 20-8 lead turned into a 22-16 lead in the blink of an eye. Brown, however, was sure his team would finish off the win.

"Once we get to 21 I'm pretty confident," he said. "I did take a time out just to calm things down and run a set play on a serve receive. We've been in that situation many times this year and I like our chances once we get to 21."

Shelby Tietjen played a pivotal role in the win with 17 kills and two blocks while Shannon Forbes added a whopping 27 assists and six kills. The hard fought victory sets up a quarterfinal game with No.1 Lindenhurst on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 3 p.m.

"Were going to bring a lot more intensity, a little faster speed, set the pace to our game," Brown said. "We'll give Lindenhurst everything we've got."