Thursday, October 1, 2026
South Side’s girls’ volleyball team swept its way to a second straight Nassau Class A title.
Senior Allie Fingleton had 11 kills and junior Lena Miller and senior Keira Mullaney each added nine as the top-seeded Cyclones (14-1) won all nine sets during their county playoff run, including a 25-19, 27-25, 25-16 victory over No. 2 Plainedge in the Nassau Class A final on Saturday afternoon at Farmingdale High School.
Senior Amy Berenbroick had 39 assists and junior Maeve Britt had 24 digs for the Cyclones, who blanked No. 8 Floral Park and No. 5 Wantagh on their way to the county final. They'll face Section XI representative Half Hollow Hills West for the Long Island title at Hauppauge High School on Wednesday.
“It feels amazing,” South Side coach Steve Mariano said. “This group is such a close-knit family, and we always preach playing for each other and having each other’s backs. No matter what adversity we face, we just have to be mentally sound and strong — and they really proved that tonight.”
South Side sophomore Caitlin Ferrari produced eight points alone in the third set, including a spike off a long Plainedge volley that clinched the title. She accounted for four of the Cyclones’ final five points of the match.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better point to end it on,” Ferrari said. “But I just played for them and for the bigger picture — my team defending our championship title. It was all for them, and I dedicated it all to them.”
Ten of the Cyclones’ 14 wins this season have come by 3-0 scores, including each of their last four matches. They have won their last 14 sets, dating back to a second-set loss in a 3-1 victory at Plainedge on Oct. 24.
Sophomore Kennedy Murnane had 10 kills and Angelina Puglisi added seven during Plainedge’s first-ever county final appearance.
“I don’t think anything really went wrong,” Red Devils coach Colin Fratik said. “I think we played really well. I thought South Side just played a little bit better than us. They did a really good job getting their hands on a lot of our attacks, and they made a couple of incredible defensive plays.”
Plainedge (13-6) capitalized on numerous South Side unforced errors early, jumping out to a 7-1 lead in the opening set. The Red Devils then scored four straight points to push their advantage to 11-3 before the Cyclones recovered with an 18-4 run to take control for good.
Plainedge scored the next three points — including two Pugliese kills — to close within 21-18, but a Red Devils serving error, a Miller ace, and a Mullaney kill sealed the set.
“I think it was honestly just nerves going into counties,” Miller said of the first set. “Everyone knew it was a big game, and I think it was just nerves. We have a lot of chemistry as a team, so it was great that we came together and bounced back.”
South Side carried that momentum into the second set and jumped out to a 10-4 lead before a 9-3 Plainedge run tied it at 13. Three straight Miller kills and two more by Berenbroick highlighted a 7-0 Cyclones run immediately after, but Plainedge showed resilience by fighting off three set points and taking a 25-24 lead on Murnane’s soft volley that found a gap in the South Side defense.
But a double-hit violation on Plainedge, another Miller kill and a Red Devils kill attempt that sailed long gave the Cyclones the set.
The thwarted rally appeared to deflate the Red Devils as South Side jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third set — including a powerful Miller kill that knocked a Plainedge defender to the ground — and later went on an 8-2 run for an 18-9 advantage on its way to the title.
