Long Beach improves to 9-4

Long Beach rebounded from a five-set loss to Plainview-JFK by sweeping East Meadow last Monday, but the Marines could be without a key performer for the Nassau Class A boys’ volleyball playoffs.

Six-foot-4 senior middle hitter Jesse Kahan, the team leader in blocks and a big part of the offense, rolled an ankle after he blocked the match-clinching point in Long Beach’s 25-16, 25-13, 25-13 sweep of the Jets. Though X-rays showed no breaks, Marines coach Bill Gibson is unsure if Kahan will be in uniform when the playoffs begin Nov. 3.

“Jesse changes the way opponents run their offense,” Gibson said of Kahan, who had four kills and six blocks against East Meadow as Long Beach upped its record to 9-4. “He’s got tremendous leaping ability,” he added. “He’s a big weapon in the front row and it’s a huge loss if we don’t get him back.”

Gibson, who said he did plenty of experimenting with the lineup early in the season, plans to move David Henry from the right side to the middle, where he’ll join 6-7 senior Adam Lazare. “We’ve been subbing in David as a specialized blocker and he’s done a nice job,” Gibson said. “Our next opponent is Great Neck South and they’ve got two big middles, so they’ll test him right away and we’ll see what happens.”

Lazare, who did all he could to help Long Beach try to outlast Plainview in last Friday’s 15-25, 25-19, 18-25, 25-23, 21-25 setback with 25 kills, leads the team in kills and ranks second in blocks. “Adam’s a big presence and he was awesome against Plainview,” Gibson said. “We’ll definitely look to him to pick up some of the slack.”

Plainview swept the Marines earlier in the season, Gibson said, but this time Long Beach served tough and feasted on the Hawks’ serving strategy. “They had to work hard for their points,” he said. “They’re improved from the first time we met, but we’ve improved a lot. We just had a few errors in the last game that made the difference in the match.

“We didn’t play poorly and we didn’t lose any confidence,” he added. “The bigger issue is where we go without Jesse.”