Girls Volleyball: The Cat Is Out of the Bag
Kathy McGeehan, the veteran coach of East Hampton High School’s girls volleyball team, said in the first week of the season that this edition had the potential to be one of her best. She probably should have said had the potential to be her best, period.
McGeehan has had some terrific players in the past and some very good teams, one of which made it to the state finals in Glens Falls, but this one is firing on all cylinders, whether it be hitting, serving, digging, setting, blocking . . . you name it.
Going into Monday’s match here with Amityville, McGeehan’s crew had been shredding the opposition, no mean feat considering that two of its three wins as of that day had come at the hands of last year’s league co-champs, Sayville (3-0) and Westhampton Beach (3-1).
The team plays with exuberance and grit. Rarely did the ball hit the floor undefended in Friday’s match here with Rocky Point, which the Bonackers won 3-0.
The first set was tied at 5-5 when Elle Johnson, the senior setter, began to serve. By the time she was done it was 10-5. Molly Mamay, the junior libero, served aces for 15-7 and 16-7, and Johnson capped the 25-11 win with an ace of her own.
East Hampton, with Madyson Neff, Hannah Hartsough, a Springs sophomore who comes off the bench, and Johnson serving — the latter serving four aces in her five attempts — jumped out to a 12-2 lead in the second set before the visitors crept back a bit. A resounding kill by Neff made it 23-9, and, at 24-10, Hartsough, again coming off the bench, served it out.
With McGeehan subbing freely, the third set was more closely contested than the first two. A quick hit by Ella Gurney put the home team up by 13-10, after which, with Neff serving, a tip by Mikela Junemann, a sophomore who is East Hampton’s chief hitter, and more aces by Neff extended the lead to 18-10 before Rocky Point sided out.
With the score 22-13, Faith Fenelon, a hard-hitting ninth grader, served an ace to the floor. Junemann’s ace at 24-16 capped the sweep, after which the team extended its celebratory mood by celebrating the 26th birthday of McGeehan’s assistant, Alex Choi.
Afterward, when questioned, McGeehan, who got everyone in the match that day, said of her team, “They’ve been working hard, all through the summer. They all went to a camp at Penn State and practiced two mornings a week. We’ve got very good leadership. . . . We’re three deep at opposite” — the left-side hitter diagonally opposite the setter when the six-player team takes the court. “Molly, who has a fantastic volleyball I.Q., is always thinking . . . and, as you say, we’re quick — quick to react, quick to the ball. Credit Rocky Point, though. They were scrappy, ready to play; they were going hard.”
As for the stats, Junemann had 14 kills, Neff had seven, and Gurney four. Johnson had five aces, 25 assists, and seven digs. Mamay had 12 digs, and Johnson, as aforesaid, and Neff each had seven. The dig list included Zoe Leach, with five, Junemann, with four, and Julia Kearney, with three, as well.
Johnson, with 13 all told, and Mamay, with 10, led the team in aces going into Monday’s match. Junemann, with 36, Neff, with 25, and Gurney, with 17, were the top three when it came to kills. As for digs, Neff had 37 over the course of East Hampton’s first three matches, Mamay had 30, Leach, 29, and Junemann, 26.
On Sept. 12, the Bonackers won in four at Westhampton Beach, losing the third set 25-23 after winning the first two 25-13 and 25-15. They closed it out at 25-18.
“Yes, it was a big win,” McGeehan said afterward. “We didn’t serve and pass as well as we had against Sayville, but part of that was because they were putting pressure on and we were trying to force the ball away from their all-state libero. Our serving percentage was 77 at Westhampton; it was 86 against Sayville,” and 88.9 against Rocky Point.
“We didn’t serve well in the set we lost, but then we got back on track, and played well across the board. . . . It’s been four years since we’ve beaten Westhampton. I guess you can say [regarding East Hampton’s chances this season] the cat’s out of the bag.”