Francis Lewis has been a volleyball power for the last decade living in the PSAL Class A finals and semifinals. This season hasn’t been like most in recent years. The Patriots have resembled a MASH unit more than the well-oiled machine most are used to.
“With the star players getting hurt everybody realized we have to do it now,” sophomore Ragina Anthony said.
Despite breaking in a new setter midseason and multiple position shifts, No. 4 Lewis is back in the semis with a 25-18, 25-19 win over No. 5 Bronx Science in the PSAL Class A girls volleyball quarterfinals Thursday in Fresh Meadows. The Patriots are in the final four for the ninth straight season and face top-seeded Stuyvesant 2 p.m. Saturday at York College.
“This is probably the most rewarding,” Francis Lewis coach Arnie Rosenbaum said. “I don’t remember all the way back like the first time we got there, but all the things that they went through this year this team, all the injuries, getting themselves together.”
One of the most important adjustments was putting senior Lisa Camargo permanently at outside hitter after starting the season on the right side. She and Anthony, who is battling through a hand injury, have formed a lethal combination that feeds off each other and it was on display in the second set. Camargo and Anthony had nine kills each.
The Patriots (10-3) started both sets slowly. They rallied behind Camargo in the second. After Lewis fell behind 7-3, she had a hand in putting down four of the next seven points to give her team a 10-9 lead. Science knotted things at 13 on one of Mary Platt’s six kills, but never got closer.
Patriots senior Rivka Abramova had a kill and then went on a quick 3-0 service run to put her team up 17-13. The Wolverines (14-1) got within 24-19, but Camargo ended the match with a kill between Platt and Diana Litsas.
“I love her playing opposite me,” Anthony said. “It makes me feel like if I’m not on my ‘A’ game one day she will pick it up for me.”
Rosenbaum talked about the contributions of middle Annalise Fee, who is in her first season playing volleyball, and the improvement of middle Naya Harris, who was a key in the first set. After Lewis trailed 6-2, Rosenbaum took a timeout that seemed to calm early nerves. Harris had a block to tie the set at 8 during a 6-0 service run by Michelle Gomez that she ended with an ace.
Lewis went up 20-13 when setter Stacy Paickattu (19 assists) set up Anthony and later Harris for a tip in the center of the court to end the set. They have grown comfortable with Paickattu, who replaced the injured Jessica Chung. Rosenbaum hoped to have the senior back for the playoffs, but she was on the bench and out for the season after being hit by a car.
“I was impressed that they are more than just an outside hitting team,” Science coach Jeremy BasSie said.
He said they tried to ride Dominique Watt, who had nine kills, for as long as they could. Anna Baron added seven digs and Nakora Kowal chipped in eight assists. Science, which lost to Lewis for the third time this season, was hurt by 11 ballhandling errors. Sandra Arcabascio added 11 digs for the Patriots.
“We couldn’t get the ball to our hitters,” BasSie said.
Lewis didn’t have that problem in the second set. The players feel they have been a forgotten team because of the struggles and have finally found some stability and chemistry.
“It means the world to us because we started out with injuries and weren’t expected to play as we are playing,” Camargo said. “I’m pretty sure it’s coming as a surprise and if we win the whole thing, congrats to us.”
