Leandra North finds the right touch to give Riverhead volleyball Senior Day win

Facing a 2-0 deficit on Friday night against William Floyd, the Riverhead girls varsity volleyball team had to win three straight sets to come out victorious.

In front of a packed crowd at Riverhead High School, on a night when they honored all the seniors and their families before the game, the Blue Waves found a way to fight back and win, 3-2, with the final set finishing at 16-14.

“We’ve been in games like this all season,” first-year head coach Anthony Vaccaro said. “It’s great to finally come out on top of one of them.”

Vaccaro had been thrust into the head coaching role along with varsity assistant Pat Fabian, as the spots were vacant heading into the fall season. Though not experts in the field of volleyball, they vow and aim to become them.

“It was all new to us, but we stepped up and wanted to do what’s best for the girls,” Vaccaro said. “We spent a lot of time learning this season, and I feel like we’ve gotten better as the season rolled along. We started to understand which girls fit best where and came up with a lineup that found success. Also, having former coach Rose Horton around has helped a ton.”

One of those lineup tweaks included moving Leandra North, a senior who will be heading to the University of Mt. Saint Vincent to continue her volleyball career. Traditionally an outside hitter, North became a jack-of-all-trades and played out of position most of the second half of the season.

“It was uncomfortable for me at first,” North said. “But I knew it was the best thing for the team and I wanted to do everything we could to win.”

The Blue Waves ultimately fell short of the playoffs this season, with a current record of 4-8, but the second half of the season showed what this team was capable of. They defeated a playoff team in Patchogue-Medford 3-2, then Brentwood, before nailing this victory over William Floyd.

Defeating William Floyd after losing 3-1 earlier in the season was the perfect consolation prize near the end of the season.

Riverhead came out in the third set with a vengeance. North was finding kills, and Kayla Oliver got into the action with two aces and one kill during the set. Kassidy Doyle also started to catch fire, smacking two kills. Riverhead closed it out, 25-14 with little resistance.

“I think, once we took that third set, that gave us all the confidence we needed,” Vaccaro said. “We started to get momentum, but we continued to get tested.”

The fourth set started out in Riverhead’s favor with the Blue Waves extending the lead by as much as seven points, following an Oliver ace to make it 19-12. But William Floyd started to mount a comeback and ultimately tied it at 24-24, pushing Riverhead to the brink. 

Oliver earned her 10th kill to make it 25-24, and then North followed that up with a soft touch past the defender to seal the set.

“I’m always reading the court,” North said. “I saw an opportunity to score a point. Everyone expects a hard spike, but sometimes you have to change things up, and it worked.”

The fifth and final set went down to the wire as well. With the game tied at 14, Riverhead leaned on its senior to take over the game. North came up with two consecutive kills to seal the victory. North finished the day with nine kills, four digs and two blocks. 

“She’s done it all year for us,” Vaccaro said. “It’s fitting that she ended the game the way she did on senior day. She deserved that one for sure.”