A royal flush was in the cards this season for the Port Jefferson varsity girls’ volleyball team as they claimed every title possible. The Royals dominated their opponents on the court and were rewarded well for their efforts.
The girls’ volleyball team is a member of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) and competes in League 8. The Royals are led by head coach Charles Hafner. The bench boss has been at the helm of the Royals since 2022. Additionally, he was awarded Newsday’s Suffolk County Coach of the Year in 2022. He was also awarded Section XI League Coach of the Year in 2022. Courtside, he is joined by assistant coach Matt Dolan.
The Royals boast a 20-2 record, going 8-0 in league play. The girls have gone undefeated in league play since 2023. Let’s get to the trophies the Royals have brought home throughout the years. They won the League title in ‘21, ‘24, and ‘25. They won the County title in ‘22, ‘23, ‘24, and ‘25. They won the Long Island title in ‘22, ‘23, and ‘24. They won the Downstate title in ‘22 and ‘25. Finally, they were New York State finalists in ‘22. Easy to keep track of, right?
The Royals entered the postseason and competed in the Class C bracket, where they took home the Suffolk County title with a 3-0 win over Greenport/Southold. From there, they played in the Downstate regionals, where they defeated North Salem with another clean match, 3-0. Finally, they took on Madrid-Waddington, where they posted another clean slate to claim the victory. Thus, claiming the title of Class C Regional champions.
“It’s good. They definitely had a little bad taste in their mouth after we lost to Mount Academy last year in the downstate final.
As soon as we got to our team dinner that day on our way home, they were asking when the first offseason practice was so that they could come back next year and
I guess right the wrongs. They definitely have put the effort in. So it’s been a lot of hard work from them, and they’ve earned what they got,” said Hafner.
The squad had a lot to celebrate on and off the court as they celebrated nine seniors on October 16. McKayla Pollard, Ava Rielly, Bianca Nakagawa, Lexi Verruto, Lilliana Swift, Chloe Alonso, Anna Brown, McKenzie Rogers, and Hannah Pflaster represent the Class of 2026 and will graduate in the Spring. On the court, Pollard and Rielly had milestones of their own to celebrate. Pollard earned her 600th career kill earlier this season. She’s third in Suffolk County with 279 and has 48 aces, which is good for 19th. Rielly earned her 1,000th career assist last season. Currently, she has 676 this season, which puts her in first place in the county. Pflaster is 22nd with 213 digs. Sara Puopolo sits in 11th with 245 digs.
“We have a lot of seniors, and a lot of younger kids in the starting lineups changed a bunch. There’s been a lot of different girls playing different positions, and we’ve gotten to a point where it seems the girls are more excited when other girls have an opportunity to play and get subbed in for them. I don’t think there’s really a ton of animosity between the girls. They seem to be very supportive of each other, which is what we’ve been trying to work on this past year,” said Hafner.
The Royals were queens of the court, taking their opponents down in three straight sets 19 times this season. Only twice did they need to play five sets to pull out the ‘W’. Their only two losses came to Islip (2-3) and Connetquot (0-3). The T-Birds sit atop League II, while Islip is in the middle of the pack in League V.
“We’re going to do pretty much a team a day. We only have three days to get up there, so we’re gonna prep for Fortville one day, prep for Mount Academy one day, and prep for Lansing one day. They’ve watched film on all three teams and kind of know some of the tendencies of what their offense and defense are gonna do. So ideally, we will be able to work through some more of that stuff over the next few days and then put in some defensive and offensive stuff that’ll help us out with it. Hopefully, we show up and have energy and play tough. I think that’s the biggest thing, not getting down when you make a mistake,” said Hafner.
Port Jefferson Girls Volleyball certainly had plenty to be proud of this season as they racked up the titles to add to their trophy case. The hunt continues as they look ahead to the New York State Championship that takes place next weekend in Glens Falls. The trip will be the Royals’ first time back to states since 2022.
