Boys volleyball serves success during the post-season

The Port Washington Boys Varsity Volleyball team is off to a terrific start to their season.  Coming off of their disappointing losing season last year, the team has worked very well to bounce back this season.  The squad’s record last season was 8-9, ending with a disappointing loss to Massapequa in the County Semifinals.  The team is doing much better this season with a winning record of 8-3 and the goal of doing well in playoffs.  In addition to a winning record, the team has a few underclassman that are contributing to the team, but they are also missing the seniors that left last year.  They have talented captains with chemistry between them, and the group hopes this will lead them to bringing home a county championship.

This might be the bounce back year for boys volleyball.  The team would not be in this situation if it wasn’t for the team chemistry that they have.  They are able to work together to succeed.  

“My goal is to get the team to learn to fullrust each other by playoffs because that is a strong characteristic every team should have,” said senior captain Jacob Moy

Sophomore Carter Lotz agrees with Moy’s comments. 

“Our captains are great because they are supportive and very good players,” said Lotz.

The chemistry that the team has along with the skill of their players is a good combination for success.  The continuation of team chemistry through the whole season will be an important factor of how they do in the playoffs. 

The team has some talented seniors this year, but they miss very skillful graduated seniors such as Daniel Dash, Matt Levine and Dylan Spilko. The loss of these players was big, but the team has now rallied around their new seniors. 

“We have had great performances from seniors Reggie Bharath and Ben Spier.  The chemistry is really great on the court,” said senior captain Kushal Upadhyay.

Statistically, Spier, Bharath, and Upadhyay have had the best season. Spier is currently in seventh on the kills leaderboard in Nassau county with 117. Bharath sits at the third spot for assists, although missing two games, with 292. Upadhyay holds at the 13th spot with 97 kills, and also holds the sixth spot on the digs leaderboard with 116. 

This team has been able to come together even when there were various issues. For the first three weeks of the season, the team did not have a coach. The seniors and upperclassman did a great job leading and coaching the team until the team got a coach. 

“We have done well considering the fact that we did not have our head coach for the first three weeks,” said Lotz. 

Another problem the team faced is a big injury to three year starter and senior captain Bharath. The squad did not let this set them back as junior Charlie Dash and sophomore Josh Rosen filled in for Bharath during his absence. Right after the injury, the team faced Farmingdale, who they beat 3-2. 

“Although our team has faced some injury, we have pushed through these problems and are looking to come out strong in playoffs,” said Upadhyay.

 The team has fought through all the problems they have faced to get their one goal and might be able to achieve it this season. Through these problems, the team was able to defeat top competitor Massapequa 3-1 in Massapequa. This avenged last season’s loss and gives the team confidence moving into the latter part of the season. 

Another important thing about the team is that they have young players who can build up through the three more years that they have in high school.  Rosen and Lotz are both sophomores that are playing very well on the team.   They are important because they have a few years to mature and grow with the team.  They have both been playing very well and are excited to get to play in the playoffs and possibly become important factors for the team’s success.  

Everything that the team has done so far this season has all been in preparation for playoffs.  The postseason is the most important thing to this team and all they want to do is succeed.  They have high hopes for playoffs considering how well the team has been doing and how well they are working together. 

“The season has gone really well.  We’re hopefully going to secure the two seed in the playoffs which is better than last year,” said Upadhyay.

The main goal for the team is to look ahead at playoffs and do as well as they can with the players they have this year. The two seed would put them in a good spot to compete with the better teams that they will face and they have a good chance to do well. 

“Our goal is to do well in the playoffs and compete against Plainview and Massapequa,” said Lotz.

The players on the team are very determined to beat the better competition and think that to be the only acceptable outcome. The returning players wish to avenge last year’s loss to Massapequa and beat them as they already have this season. 

“The only acceptable outcome this season would be beating Plainview for the county championship,” said Upadhyay.  “Our goal is to be the overall best in Nassau County.”  

The team thinks it is unacceptable to not win it all and that is what they will strive to do this year. They think that the only way they can achieve this is staying focused, determined and hungry for a county championship. All the components of a great team, including good captains, great chemistry, talent, determination, and practice, will hopefully combine to help the Boys Varsity Volleyball team achieve their goal of winning the County Championship.