Westhampton Girls Volleyball Completes First Undefeated League Season Since 2016

Sarah Fabian took over Westhampton Beach’s girls volleyball team this fall with the hope of following in the footsteps of her former coach, Lenny Zaloga. After the Hurricanes’ 3-1 win over Amityville Friday night — 25-8, 20-25, 25-10, 25-11 — for Westhampton’s first undefeated League V season since 2016, she might be onto something.

“This feels unreal,” Fabian said. “I’ve been with these girls and moved up with them for three years, and having this title is just so heartwarming and special.”

The first-year coach said what helped make the 10-0 season possible is the power of teamwork, which was seen all across the court on October 25. Senior middle Shannon Sweet (10 kills, four digs, three aces and two blocks) and junior outside hitters Katie Burke (14 kills, eight digs) and Jasmine Taylor (10 kills, four digs) all recorded kills in the first set, as did senior middle Karly Pascale (eight kills, two blocks), who also picked up two solo blocks. Senior setter Kenzie Gilbride (24 assists, four digs), who set up a majority of those plays, even racked up back-to-back aces before a kill by junior setter Emma O’Came (24 assists, five kills, five digs, three aces) closed it out.

“We had a lot of energy,” Pascale said. “Our serve receive has improved tremendously and our hitter-setter connections are looking good, too. We came out super strong, and that definitely helped us a lot.”

But the senior admitted the girls got in their heads a bit as Amityville (2-8) and its crowd erupted with each point won in the second set.

“Our communication definitely helped us, and energy is a big thing for us, too, but both of those things were missing and we fell flat in the second,” Sweet said. “I think we can go far if we use this energy correctly.”

Fabian said it’s all about how a team bounces back from adversity, though, and her team excelled at that.

“The real strength of a team is watching that comeback, and if you can drop a set and come back with a 15-point lead that just shows how strong and competitive our team is,” the coach said. “They’re always striving to be the best.”

The Hurricanes went on a 13-4 run out of a 4-4 tie in the third, capping it with a kill by Sweet, who put up six points over the spurt. Senior defensive specialist Makayla Vignieri closed out the set with four of her game-high six aces.

“Everything was on,” Sweet said. “I can’t get kills without good sets and good passes, so I think collectively we brought it. We worked as a cohesive unit. Everyone is at a great point — we’re playing the best we can — and it’s yielding results.”

Pascale said finishing 11-2 overall and 10-0 in the league also means a lot to a team that felt like it had something to prove returning half its roster following a 5-7 season where the Hurricanes just missed making the playoffs.

“To know we finished first in our league feels great. We’ve been showing it to a lot of these teams, but this really solidifies it,” she said. “It’s cool to know we did this after the season we had last year.”

“It’s nice to get rewarded like this,” Gilbride added. “I think we played well the whole season, and we still have a lot of potential. We can go far.”

All three said the achievement also wouldn’t be possible without the young, new additions to the team.

“The new girls brought a lot of good energy. We’ve been loud,” Pascale said. “Our team cheers each other on, so it feels really good when you get a point. They give us motivation to go out there and do our thing.”

Fabian said it also helps that her student-athletes are close on and off the court.

“I think that helps with comfortability and that energy,” she said. “We have grown a lot since the first day. We have a set lineup to run certain plays. We put the pieces together. We wanted to bring it all together to bring some surprises to the second half of the schedule, and we did that.”

Fabian doesn’t want those surprises to stop here, with the hope of getting back to that dynasty level under Zaloga, who amassed 500 victories over his 35 years coaching, making the playoffs all but two seasons.

“Lenny was my coach, so getting to recreate his path — start a new journey, but carry on his legacy — is something really amazing. This is an unforgettable moment,” Fabian said. “These girls have given so much, and this program, and I feel confident and have full trust in every single one of them. We got that spark back, I want us to keep that going. This is going to be a legendary team.”