By:TONY BELLISSIMO
The Long Beach girls volleyball team is one victory away from the Nassau County Class A championship.
The third-seeded Lady Marines defeated upset-minded Elmont on Tuesday, 30-21, 30-27, 30-18, and will face top-seeded Massapequa in the title match this Thursday, Nov. 8, at 4:30 p.m. at Nassau Community College.
It feels great to be in the finals,Coach Karen Bloom said. It's going to be tough because Massapequa's a great team, but we'll be ready.
In their semifinal win over 10th-seeded Elmont, the Lady Marines were led by juniors Emma Mahnken (17service points, four aces) and Beverly Rivera (15 service points, 13 kills and 12 digs), and senior Allie Sedlik (34 digs).
We knew we couldn't take Elmont lightly,Bloom said of the Lady Spartans, who upset second-seeded East Meadow in the quarterfinal round. East Meadow beat us twice during the regular season and we all thought we'd be facing them a third time. But when we found out we'd be facing Elmont instead, we were pretty excited.
Long Beach breezed past sixth-seeded Calhoun in last Saturday's quarterfinal, winning 30-17, 30-22, 30-16. Sedlik (eight aces, 22 kills, 22 digs), Rivera (18 digs), Mahnken (15 service points), senior Lauren Lebowitz (15 service points, 22 digs) and junior Elizabeth Mitchell (16 assists, 21 digs) all played major roles.
Only Massapequa stands in the way of the Lady Marines' first-ever county championship. Coach Bloom will be counting on her two big guns, Sedlik and Rivera, to spearhead the charge.
If Allie and Beverly can play as well as their capable of playing, we'll definitely have a shot,Bloom said. There are nine other girls that contribute just as much in other ways, but we'll have to be able to put the ball away against Massapequa.
The Lady Marines (12-3) and Lady Chiefs (14-1) split their regular-season meetings.
