The raucous crowd who filed into the packed gym at Smithtown East High School to cheer on their second-seeded Bulls Friday afternoon held their collective breath when Tyler Donofrio crumbled to the floor after celebrating his sixth kill of the first game.
After he was helped off the court, the rest of the Bulls didn't miss a beat.
The Smithtown East varsity volleyball team cruised to a 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 25-16) victory in the Division I quarterfinals, eliminating no. 7 Sachem North (8-8, 6-6).
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"Obviously Tyler's our go-to kid out there," said Smithtown head coach Kelly Aiello. "But every kid stepped up today. Every kid was our go-to kid."
Donofrio spiked the ball from the left side of the net to give Smithtown (17-1, 15-0) a 23-12 advantage in the first game. Upon landing, he jumped up in celebration, and came down awkwardly on his right ankle.
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After the loss of their star player, the Bulls were forced to rely on more players than usual. Matt Pellechi led all players with 10 kills, and Andrew Sanchez and Sean Baxley each had nine. Five of Sanchez's kills came in the final game to help put the Arrows away.
"We had guys who don't normally start for us come up huge today," Aiello said. "Like I said usually we rely on Tyler. But if you looked out there today, you would never have even noticed he was missing."
Smithtown went on to breeze through the first game, but had a much harder time in game two, thanks in large part to the play of Sachem junior Matt Cahill and senior captain Richard Lupo.
"Matt's a beast," Rivera said. "He's really consistent. He's the guy we want to get the ball 20 more times than he does."
Cahill had six kills and led the team with four blocks. Lupo led the team with nine kills.
"[Richard] is our go-to-guy out there," Rivera said. "We look to him to get it done."
Sachem was nipping at the Bulls' heels throughout the second game, but could never establish a lead.
The third game was over shortly after it started, as Smithtown jumped out to a commanding 12-6 lead and never looked back.
Smithtown will host Lindenhurst at 6 p.m. Monday in the Division I semifinals.
