Eastport-South Manor captures Suffolk Division II title

Sharks upend Hauppauge, 34-36, 25-11, 25-19, 25-23, and advance to the Long Island championship.

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Eastport-South Manor celebrates its four set victory over Hauppauge in the Suffolk Division II boys volleyball final at Suffolk-CCC Brentwood on Wednesday. Photo Credit: Daniel De Mato

By Laura Amato laura.amato@newsday.com Updated November 7, 2018 10:16 PM

Eastport-South Manor didn’t care which division it was, so long as the Sharks walked off the court with a championship.

A year after winning the Suffolk Division I title, No. 2 Eastport-South Manor captured the Division II championship, defeating No. 1 Hauppauge in four sets at Suffolk CCC-Brentwood on Wednesday. Eastport-South Manor won, 34-36, 25-11, 25-19, 25-23, and advances to the Long Island championship at 2 p.m. on Nov. 10, taking on either Bellmore JFK or Jericho at Suffolk CCC-Brentwood.

“Whatever we had to do to win, we were going to do it,” outside hitter Adam Burk said.” Nobody believed in us, but we always believed in ourselves. We wanted to prove everybody wrong.”  Eastport-South Manor’s unconventional title defense didn’t come easy.

The Sharks (7-8) had chances to put the first set away, but couldn’t connect on that one, big play against a determined Hauppauge (9-6). It was a frustrating start and ESM knew it needed a quick turnaround if it was going to have a chance.  ESM did just that in the second set, jumping out to a five-point lead and finding its rhythm thanks to some strong play at the net.

“We told the guys they had to play in the moment,” coach Bill Kropp said. “They couldn’t think about anything else, just play their game and be confident.”

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