Will Jankowski sparks Westhampton to Long Island Div. II boys volleyball title

 Will Jankowski was serving up points all day.

 The senior picked his spots and hit them, totaling six aces and leading several runs as Westhampton defeated Calhoun in straight sets, 26-24, 25-16, 25-17, in the Long Island Division II boys volleyball championship Saturday morning at Center Moriches High School.

 “The float serve is scary good,” coach Josh Tuttle said. “It doesn’t look as exciting as a jump serve, but it’s like a knuckleball coming in at you and his has a lot of movement to it. It’s a hard serve to pass and he knew where to serve it to and he went on those runs.”

 It’s the Hurricanes’ second LI title, the first coming in 2019.   Westhampton (16-2) will bring its signature Hokey Pokey pregame ritual to the pool play round of the Division II state championship, which will begin at 10 a.m. on Saturdayat Albany Capital Center.

 Jankowski’s serving helped spur Westhampton to a 6-0 lead in the opening set. He picked up two aces during that run and later earned his fourth ace on the final point of the set.

 “At the beginning of the game, I basically spray and pray across the court and see how everyone reacts,” Jankowski said. “Throughout the game, you can see who you want to attack and that leads to aces.”

 He also had 12 kills and two blocks and was aided by Casey Sidor and Alec Kelly, who each had 11 kills. The three-headed monster kept setter Seth Terry busy, as he spread the ball around for 36 assists.

 “It helps having so many options, because if someone is having an off day, I can just pass to someone else,” Terry said. “Today, I was really just passing wherever it made the most sense because everyone was doing damage.”

 Terry did some damage of his own, adding three kills and an ace. Ben Donahue had five kills, Kelly had three aces and Sidor had two aces.

 Max Jose had 13 kills and two blocks for Calhoun, which finished 5-14.

 The senior core of Jankowski, Kelly, Sidor and Terry has been the backbone of this dynamic Westhampton team, which has experienced a lot of losses the last few years, including in last year’s county semifinal.

 “Freshman year, we went 2-14 on JV and we thought our future was looking bleak,” Terry said. “For it all to finally come together this season is really nice.”

 “All the lessons we learned last year have really paid off,” Tuttle added. “They weren’t lessons lost, they were lessons that really fueled us and made us come together.”