Long Beach outlasts Commack to win its first LI girls volleyball title

Is there such a thing as giving Emma McGovern the ball too much?

“Um, no, I don’t think so,” said setter Grace Rosenberg, hiding a smile.

McGovern was the difference maker in Sunday night’s Long Island Class AA girls volleyball championship victory over Commack, recording 33 kills in the 25-16, 25-23, 15-25, 23-25, 25-14 victory.

Long Beach improved to 17-0 to capture the first Long Island championship in program history and will play in the state semifinals next weekend in Glens Falls. Commack fell to 17-1.

“It’s pure bliss because we’ve worked so hard for this since last season,” McGovern said, referencing the loss in last year’s Long Island final to Connetquot, the eventual state champion. “We said we were going to be back and make a statement.”

Long Beach made that statement, but not without resistance from Commack and its nearly impenetrable defense. Every ball Long Beach hit over the net was contested in some fashion, allowing setters Gabi D’Agostino and Carly Haegele to distribute to Commack’s stable of hitters.

Abbey Dummler took over in the third and fourth sets after being mostly bottled up early, propelling Commack into an all-or-nothing fifth set.

Long Beach then leaned on McGovern more than before. The senior outside hitter had 10 of her kills in the deciding set.

“It was a matter of finding those spots and executing because they were doing a great job covering the court,” McGovern said. “When they had those scrappy plays, we had to make sure we were capitalizing on those.”

Though McGovern starred, it took contributions from role players, too. Lexie Correia, Maggie Swegler, Marlené Kramer and Kathleen Verastegui all left their marks. Rosenberg tallied 34 assists.

“If we were going to do it, everyone on the team agrees that this was the year,” Rosenberg said. “It’s surreal.”

Perhaps more program history could be on the horizon.