A first time to everything is a major success. For their first playoff victory, the Boys Varsity Volleyball 2022-2023 season will be remembered in school history forever.

What’s unique about the team is that the program didn’t start until 2017. The program started with two years of only varsity before getting a JV team. There were many challenges early in the process.

JV Coach Mr. Lackner said, “A challenging part was definitely learning the game and having the players learn the game. We kind of did it a little backwards where we had a varsity team first, then a JV team, then a middle school team, so you know teaching them the rules of the game, positioning and skill wise and luckily now we have the opportunity with the JV program with those kids now coming up so it’s good.”

Not only did the boys come out with a great win in the playoffs, they also had an outstanding regular season, with a record of 9-7. The team had a rough stretch throughout the middle of the season, but they worked hard and finished strong.

East Islip played East Hampton in the first round of the playoffs on Wednesday, October 25. They won in five sets and made history.

Coach O’Donnell is proud to have experienced this memorable moment. She expresses, “It is an honor and privilege to have coached a team that set an early goal and worked as hard as they did to accomplish that goal. They earned a playoff position, won a tough game against East Hampton in the 5th set and went on to compete against Eastport South Manor, the 3rd ranked team in Suffolk County. I could not be prouder of each and every one of them.”

Captain Jake Vessalico and player Travis Stockton are proud as well. They said “we really deserved it, we worked hard for it.”

What about the future of East Islip Volleyball? “We hope that the younger guys fill in the shoes of the older guys so that we can make the playoffs again next year. We also have two sophomores on our team so hopefully they can get even better with more time.”