A championship afternoon to remember for Smithtown West's two volleyball teams

Sally Tietjen #12 of Smithtown West, center, and teammates, from left, Kasey Tietjen #6, Erika Gehrling #5, Kira Pirrera #11 and Carley McAleavey #7 celebrate after winning the Suffolk girls volleyball Class AA final over Connetquot at Smithtown High School West on Saturday, April 24, 2021. Credit: James Escher
One school. One sport. Two championships.
On the final Saturday of April, and playing in their own gymnasium because coronavirus protocols ruled out neutral sites, the Smithtown West boys volleyball team and girls volleyball team both won Suffolk County championships. In both cases they unseated defending champions – powerhouse Sachem North in boys and dynastic Connetquot in girls volleyball – who won those crowns by beating the two Bulls programs in the finals of the previous season.
"It was nothing short of a magical day for our school," Smithtown West girls coach Deron Brown said.
For the girls program, it was Smithtown West’s first championship in more than two decades. For the boys program, it was a third title in as long a span. Misplaced on the calendar by COVID-19, this was the finest season for Smithtown West in the sport of volleyball since before the 1992-93 school year when the two high schools were combined into a single entity before splitting again into East and West in 2004-05.
"We had something rare going on here," Smithtown district athletic director Pat Smith said. "So much happened during this compact season, but boy, the boys volleyball and girls volleyball teams really got to shine."
In each case, though, everything nearly came off the rails in the season’s second week.
'Tomorrow is the turning point'
Dan Shanley and Christian Piccininni decided to grab dinner at Cabo Fresh on Route 111 in Smithtown on March 21. As they dined on a chicken burrito and a steak bowl, respectively, they recognized something had to be done to get their team untracked.
The season had begun with all kinds of optimism. Shanley, the star outside hitter, was back from the county runner-up. Jack Del Rosario, the brilliantly deceptive senior, and Alex Weinhaus, the deep-digging senior libero, were too. And the underclassmen were a fearless group.
But two days before that Sunday dinner, Smithtown West lost to Westhampton to fall to 2-3.
"There was competition between players for playing time which means winners and losers," Shanley said. "There was resentment because people felt they shouldn’t be coming off the bench."
He and Piccininni, the senior captain relegated to the bench to give an underclassman more playing time, decided to call a players-only meeting before practice the next day. Each sent out the instruction on the team’s group text; the printable part of both included the phrase "tomorrow is the turning point."
Though now clearly a reserve, Piccininni delivered an inspirational address imploring, according to Del Rosario "everyone has to buy a piece of this team right now and start pushing each other." Piccininni said "I might have been benched but it was my role to push everyone to succeed."
What ensued was the team’s best practice and the shelving of resentments. Smithtown West rolled on to win 12 of their final 13 contests and dropped only two sets in three postseason games.
After dropping the third set, 25-23, in the title game against Sachem North, Smithtown West won the clincher 25-8.
"There were moments when our team could have gone south," boys coach Mike Legge said. "It took great character from our players – and great leadership – to turn our season around."
'No one goes it alone'
The Smithtown West girls were hell bent on getting back to the championship game this season and had reason to believe they could get there and win this time. The Bulls made the final without their top senior, star outside hitter Sally Tietjen, who missed virtually all of the previous season with an ankle injury. Now a healthy Tietjen was back in the fold with a slew of returners.
They were 5-0 in the second week when circumstances threw up a pair of big obstacles. A positive COVID-19 test put the team into quarantine for 10 days. Then, just before returning, came the unexpected death of Smithtown West social studies teacher Greg Sill, 48, from a pulmonary embolism.
Sill’s death affected players in both volleyball programs, but hit the girls especially hard. When there was a pep rally at Smithtown West, Sill was on the mic running it. He turned up for most games and talked with the girls about their season constantly. Brown called him "the school’s spirit leader." Assistant coach Ashley Marchese took Sill's death harder than others.
"These things brought us together in a way we never could have thought," said Tietjen, a five-year starter and this season's Newsday player of the year. "We were showing up for each other and supporting our coach. On our team, no one goes it alone."
"I was the one who tested positive and I felt like I had really let the team down," senior opposite hitter Hannah Naja said. "But the whole team was there for me. And the whole team helped [Marchese] though a tough period. We got stronger."
Coming out of the quarantine and the tragedy, the Bulls kept winning but let inferior teams stay close for too long. That’s when Brown inadvertently gave them a rallying cry. "He said we were playing down to the competition and waiting until late to step on the gas," Naja explained. "He said ‘from now on it’s ‘All Gas’ and we adopted that."
Smithtown West won the third and fourth sets against Connetquot, 25-13 and 25-18, in the 3-1 title game victory to finish a perfect 18-0.
"We overcame tragedy and a quarantine to have our best season ever," Brown said.
'You could still feel the championship vibe'
Section XI’s coronavirus protocols limited attendance at volleyball games to two spectators per player from the home team. However, if you weren’t on the list, there were still ways to see the games. "You could always find a way look in a doorway or window," Shanley said.
The boys and girls volleyball programs at Smithtown West always pulled for each other, and this is how they kept tabs on each others’ games.
This was likely a byproduct of the summer camps the teams staged.
"Those are where the Smithtown West traditions are built for the boys and the girls," Tietjen said.
The opener for that championship Saturday doubleheader at Smithtown West was the boys game, which the Bulls won, 3-1. "It was really rewarding because we had wanted to play Sachem [North]," Shanley said. "They have been the top dogs and we lost to them in five sets the year before. In a way we wanted to win it for ourselves but also last year’s seniors."
When the girls came on the hardwood about three hours later, Tietjen said, "You could still feel the championship vibe from the boys' win on that [floor], but it didn’t put pressure on us, it encouraged us."
"We had to play our game and we did," Naja said of the 3-1 triumph.
"It ended up a special day in Smithtown," Legge said.
Added Brown: "It was just like everything was aligned for a magical day. Both teams were getting to play in our house. You could feel [Sill] in the building that day. Everything came together perfectly."