Bulldogs Volleyball Defeats Northport to Capture County Crown

In the midst of an exuberant on-court victory celebration Wednesday night, Lindenhurst boys volleyball player Gerard Gigante took a moment to sum up his team’s dramatic Suffolk Division I championship match against Northport in 12 simple words.

“We’ve been playing six years for this - and it finally paid off," he said.

Indeed, it paid off handsomely for Gigante and his teammates, a cadre of seniors of the “ ” Bulldogs volleyball squad that had set its sights, since seventh grade, on winning a county championship for their school.

Lindenhurst’s "" got its wish in dramatic fashion Wednesday night, defeating an enormously talented Northport High School squad in four games - 21-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-16 - to win the county title.

The county crown also materialized as Lindenhurst turned back a feisty Northport squad that had beaten them three times out of five during regular season tournament play.

“We‘d seen Lindenhurst five times in tournament play, and won three of them,” said Northport Head Coach Bobby Hamel. “It was just a question of who would come out hot tonight.“

Despite that the match might be disrupted by individuals from another school, there wasn‘t a hint of trouble at the Division I championship match Wednesday night - just plenty of hard-hitting volleyball.

The Tigers came out strong in game one. The scoring was neck and neck through a 15-15 tie when Northport went on a 5-3 run, punctuated by a Brady Ambro kill from the left side, and two time-outs for Lindenhurst couldn’t stem the tide.

It was 1-0 Northport - but Lindenhurst had an answer.

“After game one, we decided to match block them,“ Bulldogs Head Coach Kevin Muscarello.

The strategy paid off.

Four double blocks for Travis VonHolt and Rob Sarnekis early in game two fueled a surge that disrupted the Northport offense, and allowed the Bulldogs to pull out to a 12-8 lead.

Northport tried to climb back in it, on the strength of a kill from Ambro and a Grant Schneider block for a point, but it wasn't enough. Lindenhurst got out to a six-point lead, and held off a Northport rally to take game two and even up the match.

Game three was another nip-and-tuck battle, which didn’t resolve itself until, tied at 18-18, a kill came from VonHolt, followed by three in rapid succession for Mike Comens, giving Lindenhurst daylight and a 2-1 game advantage.

For all of the drama of games one through three, game four was a Bulldogs fest, as Gigante notched 9 kills, spurring a runaway game four and the county crown.

Gigante led the way for Lindenhurst, with 22 digs and 12 kills - nine of which came in game four. Comens had 13 kills, and VonHolt had seven, as well as four blocks, from the center position. Chris DeLucie contributed 15 assists on the day.

Standing tall for Northport were outside hitters Ambro (12 kills), Kyle MacKnight (eight kills) and Pat Gathman, who was a solid presence in the center position.

“We have to tip our hats to Lindenhurst,” Hamel said. “They did a great job blocking, [and] put up a great floor defense. They’re scrappy, and they found a way to win.”

“We knew Northport played a fast game, and we prepared ourselves for the style of play they display,” Muscarello said. “We worked hard on our floor defense, packed it in tight and stuck to our game plan.”

With the on , , the earned the right to meet the Nassau champions - Massapequa Chiefs - in the on Saturday, November 12, at 12 p.m., at Hofstra University.