By TONY BELLISSIMO
Senior hitter Russell Butts added 11 kills and five blocks for the Marines, who advanced to the Final Four this week at Nassau Community College. They swept No. 4 Hewlett in Tuesday night's semifinal, 25-11, 25-14, 25-13, to advance to meet second-seeded Floral Park in Thursday's title match beginning at 6:30 p.m.
Plainview has had the upper hand on us the past few seasons, coach Bill Gibson said, referring to the quarterfinal win. We were a bit too keyed up at the start and it almost cost us the first game. We were willing to grind it out if we had to, but we played a lot better the next two games to advance.
During the regular season, the Hawks gave Long Beach some problems in the first game but ultimately went down in three.
The matches were similar in that the first game was very close and the next two games weren't so close, Gibson said. With rally scoring, you can't be too over-anxious. You can do more bad than good.
In the opening round, Torres had 10 kills, six aces and three digs, Butts 10 kills and three blocks, and junior hitter David Yolinsky 11 kills and six digs to lead the Marines over No. 16 Valley Stream Central, 25-11, 25-13, 25-9. Cohn had 40 assists.
Central was big and athletic and we needed to serve aggressively to keep them off the net, Gibson said.
As always, Cohn spread the wealth as six different Marines had at least three kills.
Everyone gets involved and that's the way we're going to keep playing, Gibson said. The teams that have won the county in recent years did the same thing. The kids are happy with it because they see how successful we've been.
Long Beach carries a perfect 19-0 record into the title match. Its last county championship came in 1994.
The Marines swept Hewlett during the regular season, winning in four games on May 13 and three games on April 12. The teams also met in the final of the Plainview tournament on April 20, with Long Beach winning that as well, 2-1. In the county semis, Torres had 11 kills to lead the way, and the Marines continued their dominance of the Bulldogs.
