Oyster Bay girls volleyball enjoyed its season despite dropping matches at state tournament
GLENS FALLS — Oyster Bay girls volleyball made strides this season and achieved new heights. It won its fourth consecutive county championship and was finally able to pair it with a Long Island championship and an opportunity to compete in the state championships.
Oyster Bay lost its three matches of state Class B pool play at the state championships at Cool Insuring Arena on Saturday afternoon.
“This opportunity meant so much. I’ve always wanted to play in this environment,” Nicole Gatti said. “When we won the Long Island championship, I felt that we accomplished something bigger than we ever had.”
Oyster Bay began its day against Blind Brook (Section I) and dropped a tough first set, 23-25, and the second 17-25.
Oyster Bay knew it needed to win its second match against Windsor (IV) to have a chance to advance. It tied the first set at 11, following Nicole Gatti’s kill, but lost 18-25.
The team played its best volleyball of the day in the second set, grabbing a 24-20 lead after Sabrina Eisner’s ace. Windsor scored the next five points to earn match point before Tess Egan’s kill tied it at 25 for Oyster Bay. Following an error, Sopia Pavlovic’s ace won Oyster Bay the set, 27-25.
“I think we got our energy up in that match more so than at any other moment,” Gatti said. “That made us play better and I think we just needed to maintain that better.”
Oyster Bay was unable to bring that spark to the third set, falling 6-15. Gatti had 12 kills and Egan had seven in the match.
“We were focused on getting here, because just doing that is a big accomplishment,” coach Jen Iles said. “It wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, but it was a great experience.”
Heading into its third match against Westhill (III) with its fate known, Oyster Bay enjoyed the moment and allowed some of its bench players to experience playing at the state championships.
Blind Brook and Westhill will face off in Sunday’s championship match.
“We’re all supportive of one another and we want to see everyone have their moment,” Gatti said. “It was fun to be able to switch it up and play with everyone.”
Oyster Bay achieved success this season with a young group. The team will graduate just three seniors.
“We have a young group coming back and we’re excited to see where we can go,” Iles said. “To get this experience for those players, hopefully, they’ll be back here with us next year.”
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.
