Viki Harkin leads top-seeded Mattituck to Class C volleyball title
Mattituck's Hayden Kitz, left, and Viki Harkin, right, celebrate after their win over Pierson in the Suffolk Class C girls volleyball final at Shoreham Wading River High School on Monday. Credit: Richard T. Slattery
The top-seeded Mattituck girls volleyball team looked well on its way to a Long Island championship match after convincingly winning its first two sets on Monday.
But after No. 2 Pierson/Bridgehampton stormed back and won the third and fourth sets, the Tuckers found themselves in unfamiliar territory.
“This was our first five-setter this year,” Mattituck coach Frank Massa said. “I wasn’t sure how the team was going to react.”
“When we had that last huddle before we went out, coach really encouraged us and got into our heads,” libero Jordan Osler said. “We knew we needed to go out there and give it all we had.”
The Tuckers lost the first point of the final set, but won the next nine. The set never got closer than six points and Mattituck prevailed, 25-17, 25-15, 15-25, 23-25, 25-12, in the Suffolk Class C final at Shoreham-Wading River.
Captain Viki Harkin had 29 kills and four aces, Osler had 17 digs and four aces, and setter Miranda Hedges had 27 assists in the win.
“I feel that with my game I am definitely more confident if I am getting set,” Harkin said. “If I don’t get set for awhile, I feel like I lose it. So that’s why no matter what, even if the ball isn’t really near me, I’ll call it. That’s just how I play and how I have always played.”
The Whalers (13-3) won the last 12 points of the third set, which included 11 consecutive service points by freshman Sofia Mancino. Mancino led Pierson/Bridgehampton with 28 assists and four aces. The fourth set was back and forth, but again won by the Whalers.
“We had to get back to what we were doing in the first two games,” Massa said. “I knew we were in for a battle. A team like Pierson is just going to keep on coming at you.”
Mattituck (15-2) will face the winner of the Nassau Class C final between No. 1 East Rockaway and No. 2 Oyster Bay on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Farmingdale State College in the Long Island championship.
“I want my team to appreciate this,” Harkin said. “We are the only team that won this. I feel like we should appreciate these moments and obviously still work hard. It would be so cool to go to states for the first time, and I hope we can pull it off.”
