On Saturday, the volleyball team traveled to Sag Harbor for the 3rd Annual Pierson Volleyball Tournament, claiming the title after topping defending champion Southampton in the final.

During pool play, the girls went 2-0 vs. Greenport, Shelter Island, and Bayport-Blue Point, 1-1 vs. Mercy and Pierson, and 0-2 vs. Southampton. Southampton earned a place in the final with the best overall record, but who would join them was not as clear cut. The Bears and Pierson had identical pool play records, so they needed to go to tiebreaker scenarios to determine who would play the Mariners for the title.

The first tiebreaker was head-to-head record, which was even at 1-1. The second tiebreaker was total points in the head-to-head match-ups, which again left the Bears and Whalers deadlocked at 49-49. The third tiebreaker was point differential across the six pool play matches for each team. Yet again, the two rivals were dead even at +23 apiece and therefore needed to play a winner-take-all match to 15 to determine who would make the finals. The Bears earned their spot, winning 15-8.

In the best-of-three finals, the Bears reversed their 0-2 result earlier in the day by sweeping the Mariners 25-23, 25-21 to win the title. The hitting of Sam Petersen (15 kills, 12 aces), Lois Ezi (12 kills), and Bekah Detwiler powered the Bears while libero Leslie Kang spearheaded a stout defense.

The Bears return to Sag Harbor on Monday afternoon for their first regular season match-up with Pierson.

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