East Meadow reaches semifinals

East Meadow avenged a pair of regular-season losses to Baldwin on the volleyball court and eliminated the Lady Bruins from the Nassau Class AA playoffs with a four-set quarterfinal victory.

“If there’s any team we’ve been close to talent-wise for a long time, East Meadow is it,” Baldwin coach April Mosca said. “We’ve developed a nice rivalry. It’s tough to beat a good team three times. We didn’t play a bad match. Their serving was the difference.”

Fourth-seeded Baldwin took the opening set, 26-24, with senior standout middle hitter/blocker Ashley Boursiquot and sophomore Alexa-Jill Ackerman leading the way in their first match back from ankle injuries. The fifth-seeded Lady Jets rebounded in a big way, however, taking the next three sets 25-15, 25-20, 25-21.

“We changed our approach against Baldwin and it worked out well,” East Meadow coach Pat Burnside said. “We wanted to keep Ashley Boursiquot’s touches to a minimum and we needed to be aggressive and attack.”

Junior Becky Syers had 25 assists and 10 digs, senior outside hitter Nicole Laneri had 14 kills and 11 digs, and senior Deanna Groth had eight kills and 12 digs to lead East Meadow, which lost in the semis to eventual county champion Massapequa and finished with a record of 8-9. Ackerman had 17 kills and Boursiquot added 14 for Baldwin, which won six of seven sets against the Lady Jets during the regular season.

“We always had competitive games against Baldwin and had success against them in a few tournaments,” Burnside said. “We know each other well.”

East Meadow, which went into the playoffs on a three-match slide, knocked off No. 12 Plainview-JFK in the opening round, 25-10, 25-10, 25-21, behind Laneri’s six kills and six aces, Syers’ 16 assists, and senior Sarah Elliott’s seven kills and four aces.

Syers, Laneri, Groth, senior Emily Hoffman and senior Beanie Becker will all receive individual honors at the county volleyball dinner on Dec. 6 at the Marriott in Uniondale.

“The girls competed hard,” Burnside said. “I’m proud of what they accomplished. We played in the toughest conference in the county and reached the semifinals.”