Wantagh girls volleyball hands South Side first loss of season in five-set thriller
Kaitlin Dillon of Wantagh spikes the ball during a Nassau girls volleyball game against South Side on Monday. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Handing South Side its first loss seemed nearly impossible for Wantagh after losing the first two sets on Monday night.
Sadie Reich and her team made it all possible, taking a five-set thriller from visiting South Side, 27-29, 21-25, 25-13, 25-16, 15-11, in Nassau conference I girls volleyball.
“The big difference was our energy,” Reich said. “We started playing at our speed and stopped letting them take control. We limited our mistakes and started being more aggressive.”
Wantagh (5-3) dominated the third set, winning six of the first seven points and going up 20-8 at one point.
It was more of the same in the fourth set as Wantagh jumped out to a 13-6 lead and didn’t allow South Side to get closer than six points the rest of the way. Reich had an ace to win the fourth set.
Wantagh once again jumped out to an early lead in the fifth set and went up 6-1. Reich had two blocks and four kills in the set, including the final kill on match point.
“The team that plays with the most energy normally comes out on top,” said Kaitlin Dillon, who had nine kills. “Even after we lost the second set, we brought the energy up to start and we started grabbing early leads.”
Wantagh held three set points in the first set but each time failed to capitalize. Catherine Cammalleri and Allie Fingleton each came up with key kills to help South Side win the first set.
“I think that was the closest set we’ve played all year,” Dillon said. “We realized if we started every set the way we played towards the end of that one, things would be completely different for us.”
Wantagh held a 17-16 lead in the second set before South Side won seven of the next nine points to take a 23-19 lead and ultimately win the set. Kiera Mullaney had kills to earn the final two points of the set.
“We knew we were making too many mistakes and not putting pressure on them,” Wantagh coach Daniel O’Shea said. “We had to start forcing their hands. The girls knew what to do, but they just didn’t execute early on.”
South Side (7-1) came into the match undefeated, including a five-set victory over Wantagh back in early September. In that match, Wantagh led two sets to one before South Side launched a comeback of its own.
“We came into this match with the mindset that we wanted to get them back this time around,” Reich said. “We may have felt a little more pressure on ourselves. We struggled early on but looked at each other on the court and knew we could put it all together.”
Christopher Matias covers high school sports for Newsday after spending time in Athletic Facilities and Operation at St. John’s and in Sports Information at CUNY York college.