Long Beach gives champs a run

Long Beach rebounded from a hard-fought, four-set loss to defending Nassau Class AA girls’ volleyball champion Massapequa with an impressive sweep of MacArthur last Monday.

Senior outside hitter Chelsea Braga had 15 kills and five blocks and junior setter Haley Crane dished out 27 assists and made four blocks to lead the Lady Marines to a 25-10, 25-12, 25-20 home victory.

“To bounce back with a strong match like this is huge,” LB coach Kerri Rehnback said. “We served tough, hit strong and made a lot of good defensive plays at the net.”

The outcome was a stark contrast to the first meeting between the teams when MacArthur scored at least 24 points in three of four sets and had the Lady Marines on the brink in the season opener. “We played the way we’re capable of playing this time,” Rehnback said.

The win put an end to a two-match losing streak, which began last Friday when visiting Massapequa outlasted Long Beach (6-3 overall) in four sets. “I thought we played well and hung in there,” Rehnback said of the 17-25, 22-25, 25-23, 21-25 setback. “A victory would’ve been nice, but I think we feel better about ourselves compared to a week ago. If we clean up some mistakes, we can compete with anyone.”

Braga, a five-year varsity player and two-time All-State honoree, had 10 kills and 19 digs to lead the effort. In eight Conference AA-I matches, she has a team-leading 134 kills, 62 digs and 17 blocks. “Chelsea will hold just about every school volleyball record by the time the season is done,” Rehnback said of Braga, whose talents have been compared to current assistant coach Beverly Monaghan (Rivera), who once starred for the Lady Marines. “She’s just a great all-around player.”

Braga is one of four returning starters for Long Beach, which pushed Massapequa to the limit in an epic county final last fall. Like Braga, senior outside hitter Jessica Amen is a weapon in the front and back rows. Amen’s tremendous serve (34 aces) keeps opponents off the net.

Junior Patricia Murphy is another outside hitter and valuable server. When Braga slides to the middle, Murphy’s explosiveness to the net provides Crane with another passing option. Junior defensive specialist Kaley Connor also returned. Her responsibilities haven’t changed from last year, and she also boasts an aggressive serve. In the middle, sophomores Katherine Meyers and Jackie Zeppa have combined for more than 60 kills.  

The offense has been solid, Rehnback said, with Crane stepping up to fill a position of concern following the graduation of Sydney Folk. Crane has 186 assists in conference matches and was one of the main reasons the Lady Marines captured the Baldwin Tournament on Sept. 25. “Haley’s been coming up big,” Rehnback said.

One area the coach would like to see improved before the playoffs is serve-receive. “We have a lot of weapons and we need to be able to pass the ball to target more consistently,” she said.

Long Beach hosts an eight-team tournament Saturday, Oct. 16, beginning at 9 a.m. The next conference match is this Friday at 5 p.m. against Farmingdale.