This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Schreiber Volleyball Snaps Skid With Big Win

Vikings steamroll Oceanside Sailors in three games to break out of mini slump.

It was surely a different Vikings team on the court on Thursday afternoon, as Schreiber (5-2 Conference II, 5-3 overall) defeated Oceanside in three straight games, 25-18, 25-16 and 25-13.

The Vikings volleyball team had been through a bit of a rough stretch over its last few matches — losing twice to the Massapequa Chiefs, once in conference play and once in the championship of the of the Plainview JFK Tournament, as well as a loss to the Plainview JFK Hawks on Tuesday — but today was a much different story.

"I think that losing pretty handily against both of those teams gave us a big wake up call," Schreiber coach Maria Giamanco said about her team's recent losing streak. "We haven't been challenged a lot and then once we were it was shocking."

Find out what's happening in Port Washingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Vikings seemed much more relaxed and confident before the start of the match, and it showed. Schreiber never trailed in the first game and capitalized on several Oceanside mistakes. The second game was very similar to the first. The Vikings never looked back after jumping out to a 6-1 lead behind the strong play of Jong-Ho Byun, Daniel Chu and tri-captains Sung Kim, Dan Bernstein and Adam Epstein.

"We knew today wouldn't be as much of a competitive game as the last couple were," Epstein said after the victory. "Yesterday, we practiced hard like we usually do and we came in today trying to improve on some of the little things. We wanted to have more fun."

Find out what's happening in Port Washingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The practice was evident in the third game. The Sailors jumped out to a 9-8 lead to start the game, but the lead didn't last long. The Vikings responded with an impressive 12-3 run capped off by a massive spike from Epstein. That spike sent the crowd roaring and forced Oceanside to take a timeout to sort things out.

The timeout didn't have the effect Oceanside may have been hoping for, as the Vikings went on a 5-1 run to close out the game, and the match. With the loss, the Sailors dropped to 0-7 on the season.

"It definitely feels great to win again," Epstein said. "I hate going home after a loss. It's something I've always hated. I'm a competitive guy."

The win certainly came at a time when the Vikings needed it, especially after dropping two straight conference games.

"Hopefully today's win will keep us get on the road that we need to be on," Giamanco said.

The Vikings will look to continue their winning ways against Syosset at Schreiber High School on Friday, starting at 4:30 p.m. The team will then head on the road to take on Calhoun next Tuesday, April 27, at 4:45 p.m.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?