Last night the volleyball squad assured themselves of their first winning record since 2013 in a 3-0 sweep at Greenport.

The Blue and White took the opening set. 25-14, but found themselves behind 17-24 in set two. With their backs against the wall, Bri Kilkenny served us back into a 24-24 tie before we took the frame, 27-25. The comeback all but broke the Clippers’ spirits as the Bears took the third set, 25-19.

Sammy Petersen led the way with 5 aces while Bekah Detwiler registered 5 kills. Recent junior varsity call-ups, Lena Haemer, Mariana Lopes Valles, and Becky Loo, played well in their first varsity action of the season, highlighted by Haemer’s string of winning serves in set one.

The Bears, owners of a 6-3 record, have won three matches in a row despite missing several key players during that span. including two starters in last night’s win over Greenport. The way they have handled adversity this season has been remarkable and their resilience and camaraderie will make them a dangerous team when the playoffs begin in just over a week.

The girls will play their final game on Tuesday at Port Jefferson with the winning team receiving the #2 seed in the Suffolk Class C tournament. In their previous match-up the Bears lost a close 3-2 decision to the Royals.

The following is excerpted from Bob Liepa’s recap of the Greenport match in the Suffolk Times:

Not only has Greenport yet to win a match this season, but sets have been hard to come by. In fact, the only two sets the Clippers won this year came against Port Jefferson on Sept. 20.

So, when Greenport found itself holding seven-point leads at 22-15 and 24-17 in the second set against Stony Brook on Thursday, a rare set win sat tantalizingly close, like a volleyball hovering just above the net, waiting to be smacked down for a kill.

Incredibly, Stony Brook rallied, fighting off set point five times before prevailing in the set and going on to take the Suffolk County League VIII match, 25-14, 27-25, 25-19.

Wearing pink shirts and black shorts, the Clippers showed their inexperience against Stony Brook (6-4, 6-3), which was led by Lois Ezi (five kills, three service aces) and Samantha Petersen (four aces, one kill, seven assists). Petersen went 16-for-16 serving.

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