High school spotlight: Babylon girls soccer relishing chance at Long Island Class B title; Kellenberg girls volleyball rules again

There’s no one specific way to plan for a more than two-week off stretch before your most important game of the season.

When the Babylon girls soccer team takes the field against Cold Spring Harbor in the Long Island Class B championship game at 1 p.m. on Sunday at Farmingdale State with the chance to advance to the state semifinals, it will be the Panthers' first game since October 23.

Babylon coach Stuart Love didn’t have one uniform plan for how the team would train during the time off. He developed different plans for individual players. Some needed time off to rest some nagging injuries. Others were eager to keep working to stay in game shape.

But one commonality is they can’t wait to be back in game action.

“They are desperate to play,” Love said. “I think they wished it was a week ago. It was challenging filling the time. It’s like time is passing so slowly for some of them, you can see they are desperate to play.”

Grace Varley has 13 goals and four assists and Julia Wider eight goals and nine assists to lead Babylon.

Babylon (8-6-1) was the only Suffolk Class B team to qualify for the playoffs and Love said he and the team knew that was a possibility entering the season. The Panthers considered scrimmaging a larger school that also had time off during the postseason, but he decided he didn’t want to risk injury. Love promoted some junior varsity players to varsity to have enough players for intrasquad scrimmages instead.

The first week focused on conditioning but after seeing Cold Spring Harbor win the Nassau Class B title in person on Nov. 1, the attention shifted back toward game planning and practices.

Babylon won the Long Island Class B crown last season before falling to Haverling, 1-0, in the state final. Love also sees the benefit of not needing to run through a grueling postseason to play in a state semifinal, so it has both positives and negatives.

“You’re one game away so in that regard, it’s challenging to wait but then with the schedule, you are fortunate you need to only win one game to get to the final four, so I think they are excited to get the chance,” Love said. — Owen O’Brien

Kellenberg rules in girls volleyball

The Firebirds have showcased their dominance for a second consecutive season, securing back-to-back CHSAA championships.

Kellenberg defeated St. Anthony’s, 25-17, 25-19, 25-18 on Nov. 3 at St. Dominic in the final. The Firebirds (15-0) made it through their league championship for the second straight year without suffering a defeat.

“We won last year, but every year feels different,” Stella Becker, the CHSAA offensive player of the year, said. “Each year you have to find the mentality that pushes you.”

Bianca Sapano has been a key part of Kellenberg’s attack. The senior tallied 20 assists, eight kills, five digs and two blocks in the championship win. On the season, the SUNY Cortland commit has totaled 191 assists, 139 kills, 43 aces and 22 blocks.

The Firebirds have dropped just three sets on the way to their championship. Senior Amelia Felice leads the team in assists with 257, junior Julianna Lucie ranks first in digs with 237 and junior Angela Bush is first in blocks with 40. Becker leads the team in kills with 240.

“This team is special. When we’re on the court and in those pressure moments, they never get to us,” Becker said. “Because everyone knows they have amazing players to their right or left supporting them.” — Christopher Matias