Bad news is Sachem North actually lost a set. Good news is the Flaming Arrows won their first volleyball championship in school history.
Sachem completed a perfect 18-0 season and went 57-1 in sets, capturing a Class A state title with a 3-1 victory over McQuaid Jesuit (Rochester) on Friday night in Glens Falls. Sachem won, 25-22, 25-22,22-25, 25-18.
“I couldn’t ask for a better ending with this team,” senior Rob Steinberg, who was named tournament MVP, told Newsday. “I love my teammates, I love my coaches.”
Sachem won 12 of the final 17 points of the fourth and final set to clinch the historic victory.
From last summer through today, the team has been largely focused on this moment. The program achieved every goal it wrote down prior to the start of the 2014 season and will now add their championship season to the banners in the back gymnasium at the high school.
This is the first team state title at Sachem North since boys bowling won in 2000 (there have been individual wrestlers to win state titles since), and the first in all of Sachem since Sachem East field hockey won a state crown last season. (*Note: Sachem boys gymnastics won a state cup title in 2003, but the sport no longer exists)
-Words by Chris R. Vaccaro