Recapping the week in Long Island girls volleyball

Newsday’s Kenny DeJohn recaps the week of Long Island girls volleyball, starting with a big win for Whitman and finishing with other notables from the last week of September.

All records are results are current as of Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 4 p.m.

A Wild win for the Wildcats

It’s been a roller-coaster season for Whitman. High expectations have been met with minor letdowns along the way, but the Wildcats enjoyed a highlight on Sept. 28.

After dropping the first set to host Northport – which had just beaten Suffolk powerhouse Connetquot the week before – Whitman bounced back to take the next three sets and escape with a 3-1 win over the Tigers in Suffolk II. It was Northport’s first league loss of the season.

Whitman runs a 6-2 offense (the ratio of hitters to setters), but after setter Annabelle Novinski rolled her ankle prior to the match, Whitman was faced with either using Morgan Wagner as the only setter, or getting creative. Coach Steve Greco opted for creativity.

Ally DeGaray, the team’s top hitting threat and a Division I prospect, offered to set alongside Wagner to keep the 6-2 intact. She didn’t perform poorly in the first set, but her back-row defense was sorely missed. On the fly, Greco and the Wildcats moved to a 5-1 offense for the rest of the match. It worked.

“It was packed. It was loud. We battled,” Greco said. “One of the things of being so young, to get over the hump and overcome what we did and get that much closer to playoffs. We’ve been changing the culture a lot.”

DeGaray’s final line was impressive: 17 kills, 16 digs, six assists and five aces. Amanda DeWitt “couldn’t be blocked,” according to Greco, evidenced by her 20 kills. Wagner had 36 assists, and Maggie Neiland had 20 digs.

Whitman (4-3) couldn’t ride the momentum, dropping its next match to Lindenhurst, 3-0. But a pivotal Suffolk II matchup looms against Connetquot on Friday.

“The playoffs aren’t really something that happen here,” Greco said. “We still need two more [Suffolk II] wins.”

Notable wins

In this case, the wins aren’t necessarily as notable as the accomplishments. In Long Beach’s 3-0 win over East Meadow in a crossover between Nassau AA-I and AA-II on Sept. 28, libero Kathleen Verastegui broke the program’s career digs record of 1,280, which Chelsea Braga set in 2011. In the Marines’ 3-0 win over Farmingdale, Grace Rosenberg recorded her 2,000th career assist, adding to her program record.

Island Trees handed Seaford its first Nassau B-I loss on Sept. 29 with a 3-1 win, including a decisive 25-7 win in the fourth set. Island Trees improved to 6-1 behind Cathryn Kramer’s 15 kills, 15 digs and two blocks.

Connetquot notched a nice non-league win over Sachem East on Sept. 26. Diana Migliozzi’s 25 assists paced the 3-1 victory for the Thunderbirds. Karly Coletti added 15 digs.

Kings Park is winning matches, but those matches have been closer than in previous years. Liv Benard’s 12 kills and Alyssa Sticco’s 21 digs propelled the Kingsmen to a 3-2 win over Hauppauge in Suffolk V play on Sept. 28.

East Hampton was proud of beating Sayville once. Now, the Bonackers have done it twice. Elle Johnson had 40 assists, Molly Mamay had 30 digs and Mikela Junemann and Mady Neff combined for 27 kills in the 3-1 win in Suffolk VI on Oct. 1.

In what could prove to be its toughest week of the regular season, Sacred Heart cemented its status as the top team in CHSAA. The Spartans beat both St. Anthony’s and Kellenberg (both scores 3-1), to improve to 6-0. Olivia DeJesus had 35 kills for the week, while Riley Leimbach totaled 84 assists.

Newsday’s top 10

Long Beach (Last week: 1)

Commack (2)

South Side (3)

Sacred Heart (4)

Massapequa (6)

Connetquot (7)

Glenn (10)

Smithtown West (9)

Kings Park (8)

East Hampton (unranked)

On the cusp (in alphabetical order): Bayport-Blue Point, Eastport-South Manor, Northport, Sachem East, St. Anthony’s, Wantagh

Games to watch

• Friday, Oct. 5 — Mineola at Wantagh, 4:30 p.m.
• Friday, Oct. 5 — Connetquot at Whitman (Dig Pink), 6 p.m.
• Saturday, Oct. 6 — Tournament at Glenn, 8 a.m.
• Tuesday, Oct. 9 — Harborfields at Hauppauge, 6 p.m.