5 storylines for the boys volleyball playoffs
Jack Cain of Eastport-South Manor. Credit: Kelvin Loarca
The boys volleyball regular season has come to a close.
Suffolk’s postseason opened on Saturday and Nassau’s tournament starts on Tuesday. Here are five storylines to watch throughout the playoffs.
1. New state tournament format
The Long Island championship game has served as the state tournament’s Southeast Regional Final since the tournament’s inception in 2010. With the tournament’s expansion this season, the Long Island championship game is no longer needed.
The state tournament will now feature eight teams in each division, up from three teams in years past. The champions of Sections I, II, III, V, VI, VIII and XI will advance to the pool play round of the state tournament. The eighth spot in each division will be filled by an at-large bid from a Section I team.
Each division will have two pools of four teams, and every team will play two sets against each of the other three teams in its pool. The top two teams from each pool will advance to the semifinals. Section XI and Section VIII have been placed in opposite pools in both Division I and II, allowing for the potential of an all-Long Island state championship match.
This year’s state tournament will take place over the course of two days at two locations in Rochester, with pool play occurring on Saturday, Nov. 22. Division I will play at Roberts Wesleyan University and Division II will play at Finger Lakes Community College. The semifinals and finals for both divisions will be played on Sunday, Nov. 23 at Roberts Wesleyan.
In previous years, the top two teams in each division’s three-team pool met in the state final later the same day. The last six tournaments were held at Albany Capital Center.
2. Will Eastport-South Manor's streak continue?
Eastport-South Manor has won 32 straight matches since the start of last season. In that stretch, the Sharks have lost just four sets. Despite the loss of reigning Newsday Player of the Year Ayden DesLauriers, the Sharks have been just as dominant as last year’s team that won the Division II state title. Jack Cain, Andrew Dragos and Tyler Bottcher have the Sharks as the top-seed in Suffolk Division II and look to make another state title run.
3. Massapequa back for more
Logan Coady led an inexperienced Massapequa team to last year’s Division I county title and to the fifth set of the Long Island championship match. Most of last year’s team is back, including Coady who was Newsday’s Nassau Player of the Year, top-seeded Massapequa (15-0) is looking to return to the state tournament for the first time since 2022.
4. Bay Shore’s bounce-back
After a disappointing 2024 season which saw Bay Shore finish 7-7 and miss the playoffs, the Marauders occupy the top seed in Suffolk Division I. Seniors Niall Haughney and Zareb Gonzalez have been as good as any duo on Long Island. Bay Shore’s only loss came in five sets to Eastport-South Manor. No. 2 Connetquot (11-4) pushed Bay Shore (14-1) to five sets on Sept. 18. A potential rematch in the county final would be must-see TV.
5. Roslyn, Lawrence on crash course for rematch
Roslyn defeated Lawrence, 3-1, to win last year’s Nassau Division II title. When the teams met on Oct. 16, Roslyn won a five-set thriller. No. 1 Roslyn (18-1) and No. 2 Lawrence (17-2) seem poised to meet in the final again, but New Hyde Park (15-4), South Side (15-4) and Calhoun (11-8) are firmly in the mix. Whichever team wins the county title will be the first Nassau Division II team to reach the state tournament since Bellmore JFK won the state title in 2018.
Matt Lindsay is a high school sports reporter who joined Newsday in 2022 after graduating from Stony Brook University.
