Girls Volleyball Lose 3-1 to Smithtown West in Playoffs

Despite a 3-1 loss to Smithtown West closing out the season, the Patchogue-Medford Raiders varsity girls volleyball team fought through the first round of playoffs Thursday at Smithtown West High School.

The first game was a see-saw affair in which neither team led by more than three before West took a 24-20 lead in a 25-20 victory. The Raiders faced a 15-8 deficit before a six-point run brought them within one. The Bulls took a 24-20 lead but the Raiders fought back once again and rattled off four straight points, capped by a service ace by Amanda Dill, to tie it at 24. The Bulls, however, finished off the Raiders with two straight points in a 26-24 victory.

Facing defeat in the third game, the Raiders dominated the Bulls, helped by a six-point run with Melissa Avellino serving, to take a 21-13 lead before finishing off a 25-14 win with a kill by Meagan Anderson.
With the fourth game tied at three, the Raiders allowed the Bulls to rattle off ten points in a row to take a 13-3 lead. The Bulls looked poised to finish off the Raiders.

"Serve receive broke down," Raider head coach Carrie Gangl said. "They scored ten points in a row just off their serve so serve receive definitely let down. Whether it was a pass or a hit we just couldn't seem to put the ball away."

The Raiders didn't give up, however, and went on another six-point run with Sarah Garcia serving to get within seven. Unfortunately, it was too little too late as the Bulls finished off a 25-17 victory to end the match.

Amanda Dill had seven kills to lead the Raiders while Rebecca Gordon had six kills and five blocks and Erin Mcgiff had 17 assists. The Raiders have nothing to be ashamed of and Gangl was very happy with her team's performance this season.

"They definitely surpassed our expectations," she said. "8-4 in League 1 is the best record I've had coaching in this district in the last ten years so I'm very proud of them. We have a lot of key players coming back next year so hopefully this gets them motivated to come back and play again next season and do just as well."

The Raiders will graduate six seniors this year, but Gangl is confident her squad's young talent can step up with another year under their belt and put together another playoff run.

"I would like to accomplish the same thing next year," she said. "Get to the playoffs and get an eight or nine seed again if not even better and see what we can do from there. As I said, a couple of key people are coming back and they're going to be a year older and hopefully they will be smarter volleyball wise and we can push through in a game like this and won't let down."