Wheatley wins second straight Nassau Class B girls volleyball title
Wheatley reacts after defeating East Rockaway in the Nassau Class B girls volleyball final on Sunday at Farmingdale State College. Credit: Dawn McCormick
Wheatley won the Nassau Class B girls volleyball title last season, and so the top-seeded Wildcats were looking to repeat the feat Sunday at Farmingdale State and to make a point.
And they did both.
Wheatley defeated No. 3 East Rockaway, 25-18, 25-18, 24-26, 25-11.
“It is definitely a really beautiful moment for us,” coach Christy Herring said. “The girls have worked really hard to come back and show that it wasn’t a fluke that we were the No. 1 team coming in and there was a reason for that.”
The next step comes at 11 a.m. Wednesday when the Wildcats (18-1) face Bayport-Blue Point in the Long Island Class B championship match/Southeast Regional semifinal at Nassau Community College. They beat BBP last year and went to the regional final.
“The goal is to go further than where we went last year and get to states,” Herring said.
Nassau Class B gets an at-large berth this season, so East Rockaway (13-6) has a regional semifinal at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Candor Central against Section IV champ Windsor.
“We didn’t play our game, couldn’t get it together,” coach Ksenia Brito said. “The gym, the stage, maybe got the best of us today.”
The serving of Sofia Negovetti helped get the best of them.
“It’s the first time our school has done this, so it’s really cool to be a part of it,” the sophomore libero said of repeating. “And the team is amazing.”
Negovetti delivered four consecutive aces to cap a 7-0 run that opened the second set.
After Colleen Lynch’s kill completed the third set for the Rocks, Negovetti had three aces and Abigail Eichner had three kills to power a 9-1 run to open the final set.
“Serving is probably my favorite part of the game other than passing,” Negovetti said. “I feel like it’s really fun to do it solo by yourself.”
Herring called the Wildcats’ overall play “a little slow.” They will work on it.
As Negovetti put it, “I think we can go as far as we put our minds to.”
