Thursday, October 1, 2026
For the second straight year, East Meadow boys’ volleyball dug deep in the postseason to reach the championship stage as a lower seed.
The seventh-seeded Jets, who finished the regular season at 7-10, won three straight playoff matches to reach the Division I finals against Massapequa where the magical run would end in a four-set defeat to the number one seed. A senior-laden East Meadow squad completed a nearly identical journey last fall when it also got within one win of a title as the eight seed before falling to Syosset in four sets.
“We're always fighting to the very last point and it's just a great thing to see,” said first-year East Meadow coach Nick O’Malley, who was previously an assistant coach for two years. "They've always showed that they were quite an athletic group and would never give up until the last opportunity.”
After dropping the first two sets of the country final on Nov. 12 at Wantagh High School, East Meadow stayed alive with a 25-22 win in the third set. The Jets nearly then forced a fifth and deciding game before Massapequa won the fourth set 25-23 to clinch the championship.
East Meadow was led in the championship by senior outside hitter Joe Steinmark, who recorded 15 kills and three aces. Senior outside hitter Joe Lanza also had a big match with nine kills.
The Jets got off the runway on their playoff journey with a 3-1 win against 10th-seeded Levittown District on Oct. 30.
The postseason magic continued on Election Day where East Meadow knocked off second-seeded Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK with a five-set road win in the quarterfinals. Lanza led the way with 20 kills in the team’s third five set match against JFK this season.
Four days after the JFK upset, East Meadow punched its ticket into the Division I finals for a second straight year with a 3-1 victory against third-seeded Jericho at Oceanside High School. The win avenged two regular season losses to Jericho.
O’Malley credits the tenacity of his team this season to his all senior starting lineup which in addition to Lanza and Steinmark was led defensively by libero Michael Festa, who recorded the most digs in Nassau County.
Nick DeStefano was also a major weapon on both offense and defense at middle blocker. Setter Dylan Blanco also stepped up big following the graduation of All-Long Island Second Team selection, Justin Hendler.
The senior-led group also featured right side hitter Ihor Dekajlo and outside hitter Julian Kimak, who battled this season after tearing his ACL last year. Dekajlo and Kimak played crucial leadership roles as tri-captains with Steinmark.
Middle blocker Christian Collura and defensive specialist Gabe Newman also were part of a large senior class that guided the Jets to back-to-back championship appearances.
“This senior group has really led us to a lot a lot more than we could have asked for,” said O’Malley, who is also the men’s volleyball head coach at Nassau Community College. “We're excited for our junior class coming up because they've learned a lot from this group.”
