Alison Tsororos, Melissa O'Connor spur Hauppauge to Suffolk Class AA girls volleyball crown
Hauppauge middle Alison Tsororos goes for the kill shot against Smithtown East in the Suffolk Class AA girls volleyball final, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. Credit: George A Faella
Alison Tsororos had dreams of the moment that was in front of her, winning the county finals with a chance to make it to the Long island championship.
Tsororos and Hauppauge achieved those dreams as they defeated Smithtown East, 3-0 (30-28, 25-14, 25-15) in the Suffolk Class AA final on Friday night at Center Moriches High School.
“This has been a dream of mine ever since I was a kid,” Tsororos said. ”I watched my siblings get there and every training we do, we keep working hard. We’re not just going to settle for making it here, we’re going to push to go even further.”
Hauppauge jumped ahead 11-6 in the first set, but Smithtown East rallied on multiple occasions. With Hauppauge one point from taking the first set, Smithtown East scored three straight points to tie it at 24. Hauppauge took the set 10 points later on a Smithtown East kill attempt that didn’t make it over the net.
“I think in the first set our passing was a little off,” Hauppauge’s Melissa O’Connor said. “In the second set we picked it up, talked in the huddle about coming together on defense. Once we did that, we were able to attack more and be more effective offensively.”
The Eagles kicked things into high gear in the next set, grabbing a 15-7 lead and ending the set with O’Connor’s ace. O’Connor finished with a game-high 32 assists.
The third set was more of the same as Hauppauge led 15-8. O’Connor found Tsororos, who spiked the ball into the court for the elated Eagles. Tsororos finished with 16 kills.
“We wanted this so bad. We’ve worked hard all season and put in everything we had,” Tsororos said. “We got more consistent after the first set. We started putting the balls down and putting them away.”
Hauppauge (18-1) handed Smithtown East (17-1) its first loss of the season. Haley Hutzler had 11 kills and Sarah Adams had 16 digs for the Eagles.
“It was part of the game plan to get pressure on them early. They were undefeated and haven’t faced much pressure this season,” O’Connor said. “We tried to come at them strong and surprise them a bit. We wanted to always be attacking them.”
Hauppauge will face the winner of the Nassau Class AA final on Nov. 10 at SUNY-Old Westbury.
“It’s not going to be an easy game. We have a lot of practice ahead of us,” O’Connor said. “If we go in working as hard as we can and not taking a second for granted, I think we’ll come out on top.”
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.
