Tuesday, October 13, 2026
South Side boys’ volleyball’s eight-match win streak was snapped last Saturday, as Roslyn got the best of the Cyclones for the second time this season and four of the last five meetings dating back to last season.
South Side coach Jerry D’Angelo said he hopes his team can learn from the 3-1 loss.
“We played well,” D’Angelo said. “The second and third sets were competitive, but we had too many errors which cost us. At times, I think we show that we can compete with anyone in the county. We need to be more consistent and minimize our errors.”
The Cyclones took the first set, 25-17, but Roslyn pulled out the victory by winning each of the next three sets, 25-22, 25-22 and 25-17.
“Seems like we just always get Roslyn,” D’Angelo said. “If things go the way I think they’ll go, we’ll probably see each other in the playoffs in some way, shape or form.”
Senior outside hitter Matthew Grande recorded 17 kills, while senior outside Jesse Kuo added 16. Junior setter Jack Bradley notched 34 assists. On Sept. 15, Roslyn beat South Side 3-1.
“Jesse Kuo is one of our best servers and hitters and plays good defense,” D’Angelo said of the three-year varsity starter. “Matt Grande is a three-year varsity player. He has improved the most from his junior to senior year. Last year, we used him in specialty situations, but now he plays every possession and is a full-rotation player who serves, passes and plays defense.”
On Oct. 7, the Cyclones swept Bethpage, 25-13, 25-16 and 25-19. Bradley missed the match with an injury, but junior Connor Flaherty stepped into the starting lineup and South Side (11-2 overall, 9-2 in conference 2A) won convincingly.
“Bethpage plays us tough,” D’Angelo added. “When we played them three weeks ago, we won 3-0, but the scores were close. Going into Wednesday’s game without my starting setter, there were some concerns. I liked seeing our other players do a little bit more. Flaherty is a nice setter. It was nice to see our players make adjustments, and Flaherty deserves credit for stepping into a position where he had to initiate our offense and decide who gets the ball and where. He did a nice job.”
Sophomore middle Joseph Muir, senior middle Owen Graner, senior libero Matthew Iannone and juniors Teague O’Toole and Jack Saunders have all played key roles.
“Our mentality this year is that it’s going to be us winning together as a whole,” D’Angelo added. “Lasy year, I had a kid who recorded 410 kills. This year, we’ve had to figure out how to collectively get points when opponents score a few in a row. We preach doing our job. Everyone has a job, and everyone has to do it for us to be successful.”
D’Angelo said his team will try to finish the rest of the season strong and get ready for playoffs.
South Side will head to Wantagh Monday at 5 p.m. for a Conference 2A battle.
