Spurred on by a raucous, energetic student section known as “The Crop,” defending sectional champion Yorktown won a thriller, 3-2 (23-25, 25-11, 25-19, 25-27, 15-9), in the quarterfinals of the Section 1 Division 2 tournament Nov. 5, advancing to the sectional semifinals for a fifth straight season.
“I know a lot of those kids personally, they are my friends,” said Yorktown junior captain Sid Shenoy. “It just shows how big our program has gotten recently. Their energy and support, it gave us such a big advantage.”
Shenoy (20 kills), sophomore Cooper McGowan (18 assists), junior Christiano Rodrigues (10 kills, 10 digs) and junior captain Xavier Guzman (12 kills, 10 digs) led the Huskers to victory.
“Those are all of our friends, we got them to come out and support us in our very important playoff game against a very tough team,” Guzman said. “We actually lost to them during the regular season but with the support and energy that we had, it enabled us to bring it together.”
It was the fourth time in five years the two teams had met in the sectionals, with Yorktown’s win evening the postseason series at 2-2.
“The energy was definitely on our side tonight,” said Yorktown coach TJ Pufahl. “Our guys played with and to the energy and they just wanted to show everybody what power we have and what kind of volleyball we can actually play.”
That was evident as Yorktown (16-4) responded to losing the first set by jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the second set.
“Coming out of set one, we understood that they’re a good team but we didn’t let that lower our spirits, we knew how good of a team we were, and we didn’t let losing set one affect us at all mentally,” Shenoy said. “So we just came with the same intensity and made sure that we played fast.”
Guzman’s serving sealed the second set.
“The last three points, I was thinking of doing my own job, forcing them to make the mistakes, putting the ball where I needed to put it, and really dialing down on how to keep the team together,” Guzman said.
Guzman served five consecutive points in the decisive fifth set to give Yorktown a 10-3 lead, and the Huskers never looked back.
“Getting those points was really big, as you saw it got the crowd riled up and it really brought our team together,” Guzman said. “We really fought for that win.”
Yorktown is scheduled to face No. 2 Clarkstown North on the road in the semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 9.
Lakeland’s season ended with a 3-0 (22-25, 22-25, 21-25) loss at No. 4 Tappan Zee in the quarterfinals of the Section 1 Division 2 tournament Nov. 5.
Isaac Arias (6 kills, 7 blocks), Van Bui (4 kills, 1 block, 13 assists) and Logan Tolve (7 kills, 1 block), led the No. 5 Hornets.
The Hornets (16-6) were scheduled to host a first-round match Nov. 2 but advanced without playing after their opponent, No. 12 Rye-Rye Neck-Blind Brook, forfeited.
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