South Side outlasts West Hempstead

Five points away from being forced to a fifth and decisive set, South Side rallied behind the serving of junior Grace Healey and the hitting of sophomore Emma Paris to pull out an exciting 25-21, 25-21, 20-25, 30-28 victory at West Hempstead in Nassau Conference I girls’ volleyball match on Oct. 7.

Healey served six straight points in the fourth set as the Lady Cyclones (2-3) surged ahead, 21-20, and Paris had consecutive kills to make it 29-28. The exclamation point came when the Lady Rams (0-5) couldn’t return a serve from sophomore Allison Glass.

“We’re a young team, but I think if everyone is on at the same time the sky’s the limit,” South Side coach Cheryl Scalice said. “It’s not a question of talent, it’s a matter of experience compared to the top teams.”

West Hempstead, which captured the county Class B championship in 2009, has found some rough road in the top conference of Class A but hasn’t gone quietly with a pair of five-set losses along with the solid showing against South Side. But with two matches apiece against the past two county Class A champs, Wantagh and Kennedy, the Lady Rams have their work cut out.

“We have a lot of learning and growing to do,” West Hempstead coach Suzanne Kenney said. “The effort is always there. We battled really hard tonight after losing the first two games. I thought we were headed to five again, but they found a way to pull it out in four.”

Glass, who had 10 kills and 13 digs, came out strong in the first set and staked South Side to an 8-6 lead that quickly evaporated once West Hempstead freshman Nicole Christenson stepped to the service line. She served for five straight points but junior Gillian Geffen came back to do the same for the Lady Cyclones, who never trailed after back-to-back kills by senior Megan Lonergan and Glass made it 17-16. The set ended in style with Healey spiking a pretty assist from senior Lauren Maietti.

The second set saw sophomore Kristen Eckert helped the Lady Rams to a 10-7 lead they would extend to 19-14, thanks in large part to unforced errors on the part of South Side. “We had a few lapses, but again I think it’s more because of our inexperience than anything else,” said Scalice, who subbed constantly and used more than a dozen players in the match. “We’re still in the process of building chemistry.”

Junior Emily Essig provided a much-needed spark for the Lady Cyclones in the second set, serving for four points and picking up a kill during the comeback. Sophomore Bridget Kiernan applied the finishing touch with a kill following a difficult serve-receive by sophomore Deanna Mostowfi, who led the defense along with junior Lauren Bryn.

Seniors Katie Lynch (seven kills) and Anjolie Clark, two holdovers from last year’s title-winning team, were the big reasons West Hempstead led from start to finish in the third set, but the hosts let three set points get away in the fourth.

The teams meet again Oct. 29 at South Side.