Riverhead volleyball team is playoff bound

Riverhead volleyball (6-3 League IV, 9-3 overall) punched its ticket to the playoffs with their sixth league win of the season Friday night by defeating Deer Park in four sets.

Shortly after the conclusion, Coach Amy Greene took her team into the hallway for the post game discussion where it was announced that the Waves are playoff-bound for the first time since 2010. Screams echoed down the hallway as the moment they were waiting for all season finally came to fruition.

They re-entered the court sporting new Riverhead volleyball shirts with “2013 Playoff Bound” on the back. Along with it were three words, a theme you may say of the season thus far: “Resilient. Relentless. Ready.”

“No matter if it’s in practice, in the game or anywhere these girls are just resilient,” Greene said. “None of them ever give up on each other. They were just relentless going after every single ball today.”

But their readiness was put to test as Deer Park (1-9 League IV) won the first set 25-23. The initial sluggishness could have been contributed to the pep rally that took place at the end of the school day.

“They must have exerted all their energy during all the fun, I was kind of expecting that but they rebounded,” Greene said.

And rebounded with complete dominance no less winning the next three sets: 25-14, 25-15, and 25-12.

“Finally,” Hali Martens said letting out a huge sigh followed by a grin that reached ear to ear. “We’ve always been that losing team and people would say ‘Oh it’s just Riverhead, they’re not that great’ but we came back this year and proved everyone wrong.”

Martens recorded 6 kills and 10 digs. Junior libero Joscelin Morrow had 41 digs and 6 aces.

Even though the playoff spot is secure, the Waves’ mindset will not change.

“Absolutely not,” Greene said. “What I love about these group of girls is that after every game, win or loss, they want to get better. At practice, they’ll ask me ‘how can we get better as a team’ or ‘how can I get better individually’. It’s awesome that we’ve reached our goal of making the playoffs but we still have lots of work to do.”

The Blue Waves have three games remaining on their schedule. Now it’s all about fighting for a higher playoff seed. Riverhead plays Bellport (8-1) for their final game of the season so second place can still be up for grabs.

RiverheadLOCAL photos by George Faella
To order a print, please email the photographer faella59@gmail.com
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