ESG - Volleyball
Long Island snaps scholastic men's win streak
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter

Sweet Home's Kelsey Maving bumps the ball during one of the scholastic girls volleyball team's matches at Pace University in last week's 30th annual Empire State Games. Maving and her Western teammates earned the region's sixth consecutive gold medal by defeating Long Island in Saturday's championship match, 25-22, 25-15, 25-14. Photo by Marc A. Deley Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

For the past 17 Empire State Games, fans could pretty much anticipate a Western-Long Island championship matchup when it came to scholastic men's volleyball, with that pairing competing for the gold 13 times over that span.

Last Saturday night at Pace University marked the fourth consecutive meeting between the two regions, and it also marked an end to what was the Games' second longest gold medal streak.

Long Island won a single-game elimination match, 25-16, to claim its first gold since 1995 immediately after taking Western to the limits in a five-set match that gave Western its first loss of the double elimination playoffs.

"Long Island played out of their minds defensively," Western coach Kyle Salisbury said. "We're a pretty solid offensive team with a lot of bangers, but they had kids diving in the back row, they had kids digging balls out of the corner. They did what they had to do."

University at Buffalo women's volleyball freshman Lindsay Schlegel, left, and UB assistant coach Ladi Iya helped Western's women's open volleyball to a silver medal at the Empire State Games. Photo by Jason Nadolinski Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

The championship bout's first match - a do or die situation for Long Island - couldn't have been any closer even if it was scripted. Both teams battled back and forth over the series, with Western taking game one, 25-20, only to fall into a 2-1 hole as Long Island took games two and three by 25-21 and 26-24 margins, respectively. Western regained its composure in the fourth game to the tune of another 25-20 victory, but Salisbury believes that a key personnel change by Long Island may have made a difference down the stretch. Long Island took game five to force the playoff, 15-11.

"We had a glimmer of hope when we came out with a different lineup and won the fourth game, so we stayed with that for the fifth game," Salisbury said. "Their momentum was still rolling in that last game and we were getting tired by then. They had a lot of their smaller guys in the game towards the end. We got some big swings but not too many points to show for them down the stretch."

Long Island, which lost to Western both in pool play Friday (25-23, 30-28, 15-10) and in earlier playoff competition (25-20, 23-25, 15-10), never led in the sixth game and only closed to within three a couple of times (with 14-11 being the last instance) before Long Island eventually put the pedal to the floor and knocked off the scholastic court's heavyweights.

"When you're down six or seven points at the end like that, it's tough," Salisbury said. "We actually were down to them by eight in pool play and we came back to win that game, but it wasn't as late in the game as it was this time. It's hard once you get up in those high teens to fall behind by six or seven and then come back to win."

Western finished the tournament 6-2, defeating New York City and Long Island twice, as well as Central and Adirondack once. Western received good play over the tournament from big hitters Ryan Garby of Lancaster, Charlie Gomez of Amherst, Jeff Gutmann of Cheektowaga and Phillip Peterson of Hamburg, all of whom were consistently set up by Orchard Park setter Jared Pincoski.

The open men's team could fare no better against Long Island as it ended Western's quest for gold in the title contest, 20-25, 25-21, 25-18. Western, which moved to the loser's bracket of the double elimination tournament after falling to Long Island in earlier playoff action (25-22, 22-25, 11-15), reached the title game by defeating Adirondack, 25-22, 25-18.

West Seneca native Peter Fabbro and Orchard Park native Andrew Murtha helped Western compile a 6-4 record for the tournament. Only one of the losses, a 21-25, 17-25, 15-10 setback in Thursday's tournament opening game, didn't come at the hands of Long Island.

Women

Western's open women's team had to settle for silver for the third time in four years as New York City posted its fourth consecutive championship via its 25-23, 25-17, 25-18 win over Western.

University at Buffalo women's assistant coach Ladi Iya was a workhorse throughout the championship match, picking up 10 kills and a couple of blocks as well. A good number of Iya's kills were set up by incoming UB freshman Lindsay Schlegel, who learned quite a bit about what to expect at the college level by playing in the open division for the first time this summer.

"All the teams were so good," said the recent Lancaster graduate. "There wasn't a game you could take off. What better way is there to prepare for college by playing against other college players?"

Western battled tough the first game but was unable to keep up with the pace New York City set early on in the second and third games. Western certainly had its chances, but New York City constantly found a way to defend everything Western threw its way.

"We played our hardest and left it all out there on the court," co-coach Todd Kamenash of Snyder said. "New York City just played better than us. They came out and had a better defense than we did, and they were a little more aggressive than we were. We kind of hiccuped that second game and stopped passing."

Western's road to the championship game was longer than New York City's, with Western having to battle through two extra matches before earning another crack at New York City. After losing to NYC in the winner's bracket, 13-25, 20-25, Western had to defeat Hudson Valley in the loser's bracket championship game (25-21, 25-14) in order to have one last shot at dethroning the reigning champs.

"We were great on day one, inconsistent on day two and put together a very good run Saturday," Kamenash said. "We put ourselves in position to win gold, and you never know what's going to happen in a gold medal match. We just couldn't capitalize and execute well enough."

Throughout the tournament, Western received solid play from Depew's Katie Schrantz, North Tonawanda's Lindsay Matikosh and Byron's Alyssa Derrico. UB volleyball team member Jenna Mape and East Aurora native Katherine Shea were also on the Games team's roster.

The scholastic team, meanwhile, managed to extend its gold medal streak as it won its sixth straight gold medal with its 25-22, 25-15, 25-14 victory over Long Island. Western, which was represented locally by libero Kelsey Maving of Sweet Home, reached the title game by defeating Hudson Valley, 19-25, 25-21, 16-14. Western finished the tournament 6-2 overall.