West Hempstead thriving at 12-2

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Two teams got their licks in early, while there was still a chance – but since West Hempstead’s girls’ volleyball squad welcomed sophomore Sanaia Estime to its roster three matches into the season, the Lady Rams have been on a 12-0 run that’s kept the rest of Conference AA/B/C-3 on the ropes.

Estime, an All-Conference outside hitter, had eight kills to help start West Hempstead’s streak with a sweep of visiting Freeport Sept. 9, and has gone on to lead the league with 114 kills – including a team season-high 15 against Freeport Oct. 7 – while firing 45 aces to sit second in the conference behind teammate Grace DeStasio (senior), who has 58 (second-most in Nassau.) Add to these totals senior Haley Duran’s conference-best 224 assists and West Hempstead (12-2) has a trifecta topping the league’s statistical leaderboards.

Clearly the early losses to Clarke and Locust Valley are well behind the first-place Lady Rams, who enter the regular season’s last weeks trying to finalize their turnaround under first-year coach Ryan Dooley. The former boys’ JV skipper – who inherited a club coming off a 4-10 season – stressed that a conference crown, and the playoff berth it confers, aren’t yet in the bag, as West Hempstead faces contender Malverne (9-2) in a likely must-win match Thursday, and a tough Academy Charter (7-3) in its regular-season finale next week. But Dooley said the Lady Rams – who beat Malverne, 3-1, at home Sept. 21 – feel the title is theirs to lose.

“It’s in our hands and that’s great,” Dooley said. “If we do what we need to do, we hold our own destiny.”

Taking the reins this summer Dooley made a few game-plan tweaks, the coach said. West Hempstead plays a faster brand of ball under Dooley, with an emphasis on quickly working to the outside – a style well-suited to the team’s playmaking triumvirate. Undoubtedly, though, it was Estime’s late arrival that catalyzed the offense and kicked off the club’s explosive spree.

“Sanaia’s our big hitter,” Dooley said. “She’s physically strong, intimidating to play against. Everyone was happy when she returned.”

Perhaps none more so than Duran, whose set-ups seldom go unconverted by the young spiker. Duran – a fourth-year starter – has notched 22 assists or more in five contests, and posted a season-high 27 in three straight. “Haley does a great job running our offense,” Dooley said. “She’s a veteran and it shows. She’s a leader.”

Duran is also third on the team in aces with 38 (fifth in league), rounding out a formidable Lady Rams service – whose leader, DeStasio, notched 10 aces in a sweep of Westbury Oct. 16 to set the team’s season high. “Grace is our most consistent player,” Dooley said. “She’s also our best passer.”

West Hempstead would clinch with a win at Malverne, while a loss to the Lady Mules could trigger a postseason play-in scenario, with Clarke (10-3) also lurking on the fringes of the mix. “If we lose it gets complicated,” Dooley said. “So we need to take care of business.”