The girls volleyball team that two North Fork villages share is one win from a Suffolk County championship. Greenport/Southold swept rival Mattituck in straight sets in the Class C semifinal this week, and the Porters will play Port Jefferson for the county title on Wednesday, November 4, at 6:30 p.m. at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood.

A team built from two small schools

Greenport and Southold field one combined team because neither village school is big enough to field its own at this level. In Section XI's fall placements, Greenport's enrollment figure is listed at 170 students, which puts the combined program in Class C, the classification for Suffolk schools with 449 students or fewer. Six teams played in the class this season.

The semifinal sent the Porters against Mattituck, a North Fork neighbor a short drive west on Route 25. Southold's school announced the result the way small districts do, with a congratulations post naming the score and the next game: a 3-0 sweep, and November 4 on the calendar.

The final: Porters and Royals

Port Jefferson awaits in the final. The championship match is part of Section XI's finals week at Suffolk County Community College's Brentwood campus, where the Class AA final between undefeated Smithtown East and Half Hollow Hills West plays Monday, November 2, the Class A final between Islip and Sayville follows Monday evening, and the Class C final closes the run Wednesday night.

The county champion moves on to the state tournament, where Suffolk's Class C winner crosses into regional play on the road to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships later in November.

How to go

The final is Wednesday, November 4, at 6:30 p.m. at Suffolk County Community College in Brentwood, and admission is charged. Section XI sells tickets for its championship events through GoFan, its online ticketing page, where the Class C final is listed along with the rest of the finals schedule. For two villages at the end of the North Fork, the drive to Brentwood next Wednesday is about an hour, and the season comes down to it.

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