Westhampton boys volleyball team responds well to adversity in win over East Islip
Westhampton's Mustafa Gulsen plays the ball in the second game of a Suffolk boys volleyball match against host East Islip on Monday. Credit: Bob Sorensen
It's a mostly new Westhampton boys volleyball team this season, but the culture is exactly the same.
Six seniors, including five key contributors, graduated from last year’s team that made it to the state championship match.
Energy, composure and a balanced attack were still the keys to the visiting Hurricanes’ 35-37, 25-21, 25-23, 25-18, Suffolk League I victory over East Islip on Monday.
Westhampton clawed back from a 17-12 deficit but ultimately lost a first set that featured 12 set points and 10 lead changes. You wouldn’t expect a largely inexperienced team to respond to such a tough way to start a match, would you?
“I am expecting it,” coach Josh Tuttle said. “With Westhampton volleyball, one of the key words is composure. It doesn’t matter if we won a set 25-15, lost a set by two or lost it by 15. We’ve got to stay level-headed.”
Setter Cameron Giordano helped lead the charge, spreading the ball around to several hitters and picking up a few kills himself. Thomas Livia had three kills and Mustafa Gulsen had two kills in the second set, which ended with an ace by Giordano.
Jude Allen owned the third set with four kills before Livia (four kills) and Nate Methven (two aces) put the match away in the fourth.
“We’re such a diverse team and we have so many options that it gives us an advantage over other teams,” Gulsen said. “You never know who is going to step up or who we’re going to set the ball to in any situation.”
Allen had 13 kills and a block, Livia had 11 kills, Gulsen totaled 10 kills and Giordano added eight kills and three blocks. James Monserrate added four kills, three blocks and an ace and senior libero Aaron Kiefer flew around the court, keeping plays alive.
Teague Nolan had 18 kills, Declan Fenley had 17 kills and James Downey had 48 assists for East Islip (6-3).
Westhampton (5-4) snapped a three-match losing streak, in which they faced Connetquot (6-3), Eastport-South Manor (9-0) and Ward Melville (7-0).
“A lot of us didn’t really play together on the same last year, so a lot of this regular season is going to be us working on meshing together and knowing each other better on the court,” Giordano said.
The Hurricanes that watched last year’s team make a historic run are ready to start their own playoff push.
“We don’t want to try to live up to last team’s standard,” Giordano said. “We want to make our own name. We just have to keep pushing as a team the rest of the season and we’ll find our own way.”