Hampton Bays Girls Volleyball Team’s Season Ends With County Championship Loss to Bayport-Blue Point

At the end of last season, at his team’s award dinner, after just missing out on a postseason berth, Hampton Bays girls volleyball head coach Andy Fotopoulos challenged what would be his three senior captains in Sophia Corredor, Lily Patek and Brianna Quiros.

“Where are you going to take us? How far are you going to take us?” he asked them. “You’re only as good as your senior leaders. I really believe that.”

Their response?

A trip to the Suffolk County Class B Championship, which was played Tuesday night at Hauppauge High School against perennial powerhouse Bayport-Blue Point. The Baymen’s first county final appearance since 2009 didn’t go as well as they hoped, losing, 3-1, to the Phantoms, but that didn’t erase the entire season’s efforts, their longtime head coach said afterwards.

“I’m ecstatic. The year I took it over and came back they had one win the year before,” he explained. “I started with Brianna — my setter, my captain. Took her in as a freshman, added some pieces, like Asha [Pensa-Johnson], Tania [Quiros], Lily, Sophia, the following year. We were building to this point.

“We peaked early,” Fotopoulos added, referring to his team’s play earlier this season. “We were playing great early, hit a little bump in the road, started playing again to a high level. It’s a good team.”

And the Baymen proved that in the first set on Tuesday night. After a diving save by junior Nellie Nicolova, Pensa-Johnson’s quick tip gave Hampton Bays a 14-12 lead, bringing a huge ovation from the Baymen crowd. Brianna Quiros followed with an ace, then Pensa-Johnson slammed down a kill to make it 17-13, forcing Bayport to call a timeout and regroup.

But that didn’t seem to deter the Baymen. A heads-up play by Brianna Quiros, bringing attention to the official that Bayport had touched the ball four times leading to an illegal hit, led to the Baymen’s 23rd point of the set, then back-to-back kills by Pensa-Johnson clinched it, 25-22, for Hampton Bays.

The Baymen were feeling good about themselves after that first set win, taking in the moment and dancing to Ne-Yo and Pitbull’s “Time Of Our Lives” during the first minute of the break between sets. Bayport, though, has competed in the county championship over the past several seasons, and it responded rather quickly.

The Phantoms led the second set, 22-12, at one point and led the third set, 14-4. The Baymen made spirited comebacks in both but ultimately lost both, 25-18.

Now back on their heels in the fourth set, Hampton Bays came out ready to force a fifth — the two teams played a five-set match in the regular season finale on October 17 — jumping out to a dominating 9-1 lead. But following their timeout, the Phantoms charged right back, completing the comeback at 13-12. Eventually three consecutive kills by Lauren Baldassare, Sydney Leigh-Manuel and Erin Wuestmann clinched the set, match and county title for Bayport.

“We had hope,” after the first set, Corredor said after the match. “We played really well, we beat them. The second set we were starting to get down because they were ahead, so third set we knew we had to make a change because, had we lost, it would have put us in a really tight place to win. So we tried fighting our hardest. We managed to get up as a team and continue pushing.”

Fotopoulos didn’t necessarily agree that Bayport’s continued presence in the county final gave it an edge over his team. Patek thought that while the pressure of the match may have gotten to her and teammates at times, they were also able to get through that pressure throughout the match.

“I just think they're a little bit mentally tougher than we are,” Fotopoulos said. “Throughout the season, when we broke down we could not come back. Not just against Bayport, against other teams, when they started going back it was hard for us to turn around and to come back. I don't think it was their experience because early on they were making a lot of errors too.”

That being said, Fotopoulos thinks he had the more skilled players, it just didn’t work out that way.

“I feel we’re the better team,” Fotopoulos said. “We just broke down in serve/receive at times and made too many unforced errors at crucial times. That team hustles. It was a great match. They outhustled us maybe a little bit at times. We lost focus.”

Even though they may have lost in the county final, the players afterwards were proud of what they did accomplish throughout the season.

“It was a great season overall,” Corredor said. “The season was supposed to end more than three weeks ago, but we made it to semifinals, beat John Glenn, which was a tough thing to do. The fact that we got to county finals was really good, knowing the last time our school made it was 2009. So this was a really good season for us. We’re really happy we got this far and now we know in the future we’re capable of doing it.

“Especially our senior year,” Patek added. “It’s the greatest thing that could have happened, extending our season.”

While the program will certainly reel from the loss of Corredor, Patek and Brianna Quiros, the rest of the team is returning, including a few junior varsity players who went 18-0 this season, some of which even played in their first varsity match on Tuesday night.

“I told them we’re going to be back here next year, so,” Fotopoulos signed off with.