Mattituck girls’ volleyball falls in county final

You’ve got to give the Mattituck High girls’ volleyball team a lot of credit.

With their season only seven points away from ending, the Tuckers did everything they could to stave off a loss in the Suffolk County Class B final against Bayport-Blue Point at Newfield High School in Centereach on Friday, Nov. 7.

They were unable to pull it off, but they made it interesting and forced the Phantoms to work for their title as the third and final set was decided in overtime.

Mattituck went down to a 29-27 defeat, but its performance said much about the team’s season.

The Tuckers never gave up.

For the record, they were swept in three sets in the championship confrontation, after dropping the first two sets, 25-15 and 25-12.

“They left everything out that third set coming in 0-2, and they played hard,” head coach Kelly Pickering said.

“We definitely stepped it up third set,” said middle blocker Claire McKenzie, one of four senior captains, who was interviewed by The Suffolk Times after the match.

For some seniors, it was their final time in high school competition.

“This is my only sport,” said setter Stella Tatarka, who surpassed 500 career assists earlier this season. “It’s very emotional.”

High school volleyball matches are decided by the first team that reaches 25 points. The Tuckers knotted up the affair at 25-25, forcing overtime. It wasn’t sudden death as the victorious side needed to win by two points. In the set’s stretch run, the rivals traded point after point after point.

The third set had 15 ties as the Phantoms enjoyed an 18-14 advantage after junior setter Kelsey Morrison, whose serves were a thorn in Mattituck’s side all night, registered two consecutive aces. The Tuckers tied it at 25-25 on freshman middle blocker Brynn Pawlowski’s kill and again at 27-27 after a Bayport-Blue Point error. Senior setter Zoey Butler recorded the winning championship point on a kill.

That entertaining set had plenty of drama and tension.

“Over half the people on the court were seniors, and this is our last time playing if we were to lose,” defensive specialist Kate Nemschick said. “So, I think that’s what was keeping us going.”

It was a valiant effort.

“We really pushed hard, but it didn’t go our way,” outside hitter Grace Quinn said.

In their opening set, the Tuckers got off to a 7-4 start before they conceded 14 successive points. The Phantoms were helped by an extremely loud student section that cheered their heroes and got on their foes after a mistake with such a say: “You can’t do that!”

“We started out pretty slow,” McKenzie said. “Their students’ section got into our heads.”

Thirteen points were secured during Morrison’s service as the Tuckers were forced to chase Bayport-Blue Point with an 18-7 deficit.

“She had a low service,” Nemschick said of Morrison’s missiles. “It’s really hard to beat.”

Pickering needed to call her allotted timeouts in the set in an attempt to stop the Phantoms’ momentum.

“It was pretty difficult for us,” Nemschick said.

The Tuckers (10-6) peaked at the right time during the campaign, winning five of its six final League VII matches. They then swept host Southampton in three sets in the semifinals.

“We improved throughout the season,” Pickering said. “There’s so many little milestones … They came together and played hard and stuck together from start to finish, no matter what the score was.”

Pickering was referring to Tatarka’s 500-plus assists and sophomore libero Lizzie Fohrkolb’s 400-plus career digs.

Pawlowski collected five kills and a block, and McKenzie had four kills and three blocks for the Tuckers.

Bayport-Blue Point junior outside hitter Olivia Colombo finished with nine kills and three aces and Morrison had seven aces and three kills. Butler added 11 kills and junior libero Lexi Hager had three aces and a kill.

The Phantoms (13-2) are scheduled to face Wheatley (Nassau County) in the Long Island Class B championship at Hauppauge High School on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 6:30 p.m.

“They’re just a really good team. They go for everything. For us to play them, we need to be on our A game,” Tatarka said. “I feel like we could have done that. But I guess tonight wasn’t our night … I made such good friends on this team, some of the younger kids. I love them all … but I do wish we got to go longer.”