Jessica Menze's ace gives Sayville the Suffolk Class A girls volleyball title
Jessica Menze gets a kill in Suffolk Class A girls volleyball final, Sayville’s second straight county title, on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. Credit: George A Faella
As Jessica Menze stepped to the line, it was fitting she would hit the ball with a chance to win the match after sparking the Sayville offense all afternoon.
Menze’s ace sailed to an open spot on the court as a diving hit from Half Hollow Hills West sent it straight into the net and then the floor. Sayville defeated Half Hollow Hills West, 25-23, 18-25, 25-17, 25-27, 15-12, in the Suffolk Class A final on Friday afternoon at Center Moriches to win their second straight county championship.
“I knew I just had to get it over and in,” Menze said. “I saw where I wanted to put it on the court and was able to locate it there.”
The fifth and deciding set was tied at 10 when Hills West called timeout. Hills West took a one-point lead after a Mary Wolcott kill, but Menze responded with a kill of her own as the Golden Flashes fired off five of the final six points.
“Going into that timeout our conversation was about being grittier than them,” Lily Coan said. “We needed to work harder, be smarter and give all the grit we had to get this done.”
Hills West managed to stave off defeat in the fourth set, even after Sayville clawed back from a five-point deficit early in the set and tied it at 25. Sisters, Mary and Morgan Wolcott slammed home back-to-back kills to give Hill West the fourth set win.
Sayville (15-3) took the first set 25-23, as Menze had five of her 19 kills. Coan assisted on each and had 41 for the match. Elena Haakonson closed out the set with a kill and played strong defense, earning nine of her 26 digs in the set.
“It’s definitely a spur of the moment thing, who to get the ball to,” Coan said. “Have to find whose hot, whoever has the best situation to get us a point, but I trust every single girl to put the ball away.”
Hills West (14-2) rattled off seven straight points in the second set to grab a 15-9 lead and scored 10 of the next 13 points to take the set. Morgan Wolcott had four kills and two blocks in the set.
Sayville took the third set when Trinity Ricevuto spiked home a kill for the final point. Ricevuto finished the match with 10 kills.
Despite being the reigning Class A champions, Sayville was the underdog in the match after losing Newsday’s reigning player of the year Morgan Reese, for the season because of a knee injury.
“Morgan makes a huge impact on our team, but we all knew we had to keep going,” Menze said. “Without her we became underdogs, but we just decided that we wanted to do this for her.”
Sayville will take on the Nassau Class AA champion on Nov. 10, at SUNY-Old Westbury in the Long Island championship.
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.
