This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Smithtown East Girls Volleyball Season Comes to an End With Loss to Ward Melville

Despite a strong effort from junior Delia Phillips, Smithtown East couldn't get the win.

The Smithtown East Bulls girl's volleyball team saw their season come to an end on Tuesday night at Ward Melville High School.  Despite a top-notch effort and coming within five points of a win, the Bulls fell to the Patriots 3-2 in the AA Division semifinal match.

The Heroes: Delia Phillips had a great game for the Bulls. She seemed to be everywhere on the court, and although it is tough for one player to completely take over a volleyball game, Phillips came close–she excelled on her serve, made key blocks and some tough saves and passes.

Hailey Blunt led the Patriots with 20 kills shots and two aces.

Find out what's happening in Smithtownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Turning Point: The match came down to the very last game. Just when it seemed that the Patriots would take over, Smithtown East would bounce back and gain momentum.  Both teams did a great job making adjustments once the other team gained control. In the fifth game, Ward Melville finally was able to establish an early lead, 13-6.  Smithtown East played hard to close to gap to two, but Ward Melville never looked back and eventually won the last game 25-18.

Quotable: "We know we could play with them and we gave it everything we have," said Smithtown East head coach George Alamia. "The one thing I ask them is to leave it all out on the court, and they left it out there. I'm happy. Delia Phillips and my best players showed up today. They chipped in. I thought we should have won, but we leave here with our heads up. We had a good season."

Find out what's happening in Smithtownwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Bottom Line: If the Bulls can improve their team at all next year, they'll have a shot at going all the way. They only have four seniors graduating and Phillips, who is arguably their best player, is a junior and will be back for another season. This is a very talented team and things could have very easily gone another way in this game. Look for the Bulls to be title contenders next season.

Key Stat: The Bulls rallied to make it 18-20 in favor of Ward Melville in the final set, but Ward Melville won 5 points in a row to take the game and the match.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?