Scattered LBHS Volleyball Team May be Forced to Forfeit Playoffs

Hurricane Sandy continues to haunt the City of Long Beach in more ways than imaginable.

The seventh-seeded Long Beach Marines boys volleyball team may be forced to forfeit its playoff game Thursday against No. 10 Great Neck North due to a lack of players.

Much of the team is spread out across Long Island and the rest of the East Coast after last week's super storm left many of the players' homes uninhabitable.

"We have players in Washington D.C., South Hempstead, Oceanside, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Westchester, Sachem and some I have not heard back from yet," said Scott Blumenfeld, a member of team. "A few of our players' houses were damaged, including my own and we cannot live in them."

Blumenfeld said he spoke with a member of Nassau BOCES Wednesday afternoon and was told that the games cannot be delayed any further in order for the state tournament to take place on time.

After speaking with Long Beach head coach Bill Gibson, Blumenfeld was told that BOCES decided that teams that were unable to play would forfeit and that no further changes would occur unless they were weather related.

"I think that it is disgusting and immoral that our team is going to be eliminated from the playoffs if the game takes place tomorrow because we are climate refugees," Blumenfeld told Patch. "We all want to play and we have worked very hard all season to get to this point."

"We also believe that it would be good for the City of Long Beach," he added. "We're not just playing for ourselves, we're playing for all the people in our community who were effected by Sandy and succeeding in the playoffs would be a great way to recover."