By TONY BELLISSIMO
Last season the Marines eliminated West Hempstead in the first round of the playoffs but then were upset in the quarterfinal round by Herricks. Long Beach doesn't meet Herricks until May 6, and it looks as though the Highlanders will be in for a serious battle that afternoon.
We got off to a great start last year too, Long Beach coach Bill Gibson said. These kids know they have a lot of work ahead. They're satisfied with the record but not with the way they're playing. They know they can play better.
Junior David Yolinsky had 11 kills and seven digs, senior Russell Butts had seven blocks and senior Dan Fischer added four aces to lead the Marines to a 25-19, 25-22, 25-18 victory at Hewlett last Friday evening.
The new scoring system kept things interesting, said Gibson, referring to the statewide change to rally scoring for every game with 25 points needed to win. We had big leads in every game but we got sloppy and let them back in.
The new system made for a Long Beach-Mepham marathon on April 10. The match went the full five games. When that happens, the deciding game is only 15 points. The Marines eventually prevailed 21-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-27, 15-8.
Mepham is a very athletic team and the match could have gone either way, Gibson said. They made some errors in the fifth game and we didn't and that was the difference.
Yolinsky and Butts had 18 kills apiece and senior Stewart Ratzken added 15 kills and 24 digs. All-County junior setter Alan Cohn registered 47 assists.
The triumph over Mepham came two days after a season-opening sweep at West Hempstead. Long Beach beat the Rams 25-20, 25-23, 25-9 behind senior Albert Diaz's five aces and five blocks and Cohn's 27 assists.
The Marines play three of their next four at home, beginning this Thursday, April 18, versus Great Neck South.
