Mineola girls volleyball's historic season ends in Class A state semifinals
Mineola’s Caitlin Kenney, left, and Ava Murphy attempt a block against Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake’s Sophie Chevalier in state semifinal on Saturday, Nov. 18, 2023. Credit: /Tim Roske
GLENS FALLS — Caitlin Kenney and the Mineola girls volleyball team made history this season.
The Mustangs won their first county championship and first Long Island title en route to a state Class A semifinals appearance.
“There’s so many things we’ve achieved in this one season as a team,” Kenney said. “We all work so hard and put so much hard work in practice. Everything that went into making us successful was so important. It was just amazing to experience that with our team.”
Mineola’s historic run came to an end in the state semifinals, losing 3-0 (25-23, 26-24, 25-19) to Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake on Saturday at Cool Insuring Arena.
The Spartans mostly led or were tied during the first set. The Mustangs (15-3) did cut the lead from 18-13 to 21-20 but couldn’t continue the comeback.
“They have some humongous girls on their team,” Mineola coach Hyunah Park said of the difference in the matchup. “Their size and height — both of them combined. They’re from here, and I know they’ve been here a number of times. And I think they have that experience of having been in this arena.”
The second set was similarly back and forth with Mineola grabbing the 23-22 lead off Keira McCaffrey’s block and kill. Mineola couldn’t finish off the set, however, as the Spartans closed on a 4-1 run.
The Spartans established an 8-2 lead early in the third set, but the Mustangs immediately churned out a 5-0 run. That said, the Spartans went up 15-7 and held at least a five-point lead the remainder of the set.
Nassau separated its conferences based on ability. Park said regular season games against the best teams prepared her squad for the playoffs and state tournament.
“Two other schools from our conference made it up here,” Park said. “So we spent the whole season training each other . . . I think that really helped us a lot and helped us play hard. Every single match was a battle.”
While it’s not the end Kenney was hoping for, she felt this was an extremely valuable experience for the underclassmen on the team.
“We just needed to work together, and that’s what (the underclassmen) will learn and we learned as a team,” Kenney said. “And just keep that going, so they can make it back here again.”