Lady Marines hand Wantagh, the defending county champs, its first conference defeat in three years.
This story was written by Andrew Coen.The Wantagh girls volleyball
program has captured the last three Nassau County Class A titles but Long Beach
proved Thursday that a four-peat won’t come so easy for the Lady Warriors.
Long Beach earned an
early-season statement win with a three-seat victory against Wantagh by set
scores of 25-18, 25-21 and 25-22. It was was Wantagh's first regular season
Conference A setback since 2009.
Long Beach, which entered the
season ranked fourth in the conference, pulled off Thursday's upset over the
three-time reigning county champions on the strength of solid play at the
net led by nine kills from senior co-captain Katherine Myers.
The Lady Marines
(4-1) were also solid on serves with Justine Smith registering four aces to go
along with 27 assists. Long Beach head coach Kerri
Rehnback said beating a powerhouse team like Wantagh will serve as a major
confidence boost for the rest of the season.
"This was a huge win for
us," Rehnback said following Thursday's victory before an
enthusiastic home crowd in the Long Beach High School gymnasium.
"We did a
lot of training to be prepared mentally and physically for matches like
these."
Wantagh entered Thursday's
match at 4-0 in Conference A and head coach Katie McKeefrey said she hopes
losing in straight sets will serve as a wake-up call going forward.
"They just can't go
through the motions and expect to win," said McKeefrey, whose team entered
the 2012 season as the top seed in Conference A-1. "This will hopefully
serve as a learning experience."
Long Beach returns to action at home against
Herricks starting at 5 p.m. on Oct. 5.
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