Mehim, Cervasio lead Lindenhurst to fifth set win
Lindenhurst's Joe Cattania (10) with the spike against Ward Melville's Luke Alventosa (10) during the match. (Oct. 27, 2010) Credit: Joseph D. Sullivan
The first set had been all but sewn up, but Chris Mehim still decided to flaunt his acrobatic expertise.
Returning a serve and with his team up 24-16, the Lindenhurst senior darted from his front-line position and made a beeline to retrieve an errant return headed towards his team’s bench.
With nothing to stop his momentum, Mehim hurdled two of his seated teammates before stumbling to the floor, the ball just out of his reach. The Bulldogs would win the next point, however, to clinch the first set.
After Mehim’s acrobatics, Lindenhurst would drop the next two sets before winning the fourth and fifth en route to a 25-17, 18-25, 21-25, 25-21, 25-22 win over host Ward Melville in Suffolk League I.
Lindenhurst (8-2) has won five straight, and with only two league games remaining, Meam and company are streaking toward the postseason.
“We just want every team on Long Island to know that we’re a pretty good team and are here to stay,” said the Bulldogs’ Nick Cervasio, who had 10 kills.
Early on, it looked like there would be little need for a fourth or fifth set. Lindenhurst plowed through what seemed to be the outmanned and outgunned Patriots in the first before being equally outplayed in the second and third sets.
“They picked up their game, and we just slowed down a little bit,” said Meam, who had 40 assists. “We had to come back in the fourth and the fifth to win it.” Added Ward’s Eric Rizzo, who had 26 kills:
“Things just clicked, and we started playing with intensity. And it went from there.”
In the fourth, an 18-14 Lindenhurst lead turned into a 20-18 deficit. They regrouped with the score tied at 21 and then four straight service points evened the match at two sets apiece.
With the win, Lindenhurst evened the score from the teams’ first meeting when, on Oct. 1, they dropped a deciding fifth set to Ward.
“This was an important one,” Cervasio said. “It puts us in the mindset that we have a lot of big games coming up.”
With the loss, Ward (4-7) is officially eliminated from postseason contention. Its final league match is a visit to undefeated Half Hollow Hills (10-0) on Monday.
“Going forward, we want to go up to Hills and beat them on their senior night,” Rizzo said.
Conversely, Lindenhurst was content to survive and move on. “It tests your nerves, going to a fifth game . . . it’s a gut-check,” Meam said. “You just can’t give up.” Even if that means flying over chairs in the process.
