Freeport builds around young stars
There may not be a more Jekyll and Hyde team the past couple of seasons than the Freeport girls’ volleyball team.
The Red Devils (5-6) are doing much better than a year ago, when they struggled following an undefeated regular season in 2022. This season, all five of their wins have come via a sweep while four of the six losses have come without them taking a set.
The other two matches went the distance, but neither was immune from the Red Devils’ all-or-nothing trend. Freeport took the first two sets against Hicksville on Sept. 12 before the Comets won the last three to escape with the victory and Monday night, the team rallied from a two games to none deficit to force a decisive fifth set, where it lead 2-0, but East Meadow dominated the rest of the way to win 15-3.
“They got seven points in a row without us even getting the ball back,” lamented Freeport coach Lolita Beathea the next morning. “We’re going to talk about that in practice. I have no idea (what happened). I could not tell you.”
Freeport has shown glimpses of promise this season and won back-to-back matches in mid-September against New Hyde Park and Valley Stream Central. The latter contest featured a wild second set, where the Red Devils outlasted the Eagles 30-28 before finishing them off by a more conventional 25-16 score.
“[Davis] brings a lot of energy to the team,” Beathea said. “I think she is making the girls on JV want to play varsity as sophomores because they see that I don’t have a bias in terms of if you’re good enough to play varsity, I’ll take you in ninth grade.”
The Red Devils also boast a future star in second-year sophomore Madison Harris, a powerful hitter who helped ignite the rally against East Meadow with some key offensive and defensive plays.
“She is doing well this year,” Beathea said. “She is scoring and has a lot of ace serves. She is a hitter.”
Freeport is also getting strong serving from Khamiya Hudson, a senior who is also one of the team’s top defenders this season, and junior Natalie Pinckney. Athletic junior Arianna Junious has plenty of potential and Bethea is confident that she can be more of a consistent hitter and dependable front-row weapon in the future.
Senior Janiya Hancock has also seen time at setter and senior Ashley Blanco and junior Gabriella Nurse provide sparks off the bench.
Freeport had seven games remaining following the East Meadow contest. The Red Devils complete a two-game road swing at struggling Glen Cove on Oct. 16 before returning home to face a powerful MacArthur squad on Oct. 19 and playoff contender Uniondale two nights later.
