BROOKLYN, N.Y. — In the end, Susan Wagner’s decisive serving proved to be the difference as the No. 3-seeded Falcons slipped past No. 10 McKee/Staten Island Tech, 2-0, in the semifinals of the PSAL 3A girls’ volleyball playoffs Wednesday evening at Achievement First HS.
The win vaults coach Marco Altieri’s club into Sunday’s city finale against top-seeded and two-time defending champion John Jay at Brooklyn College at 3 p.m. John Jay beat No. 4 Bronx Science Tuesday in the other semifinal. Both finalists are 13-0 in the PSAL.
“We have worked so hard for this all season,” said senior Fiona Selimi, who recorded 13 kills on the night. “We are gonna go all the way.”
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PSAL 3A Girls’ Volleyball: Susan Wagner beats MSIT to earn spot in PSAL city final, on Wed. Nov. 19, 2025.
“(Making the finals) is the best feeling ever and I never would want to be here with another group of girls except for this group of girls,” added Madison Alberga, who registered six kills — all at big moments.
The Falcons had won their two regular-season meetings versus MSIT, but when it comes to the playoffs you can throw those results out the door.
Alberga’s key service points in the second set were huge, while Rihana Rifat (11 service points and 10 assists on the night) came up big in the seesaw first set that the Falcons were able to pull out, 28-26.
SW led 22-19, before the Seagulls surged ahead 25-24. SW came back to knot the score at 26, before Leila Mendoza’s two aces accounted for the last two points of the first set.
It would have been a back-breaker for most teams, but MSIT hung around in the second set to make things interesting only to fall 25-19.
SW’s Martina Xhepi recorded 12 digs on the night.
“We had two phenomenal matches against them, and he’s (MSIT’s Austen Rerick) a great coach,” said Altieri. “A lot of our girls play together outside (of high school) so they all know each other so I think today was just about little momentum shifts. They had a huge momentum shift for the first set, another big one in the second. We just locked it in. Madison came up huge serving at the end and Laila in the first set.
“We all know never, never take Tech for granted, ever. They’re too good.”
MSIT’s Jillian Weingarten had 17 assists to go along with five service points and four digs, while Valeriya Dashkevich had seven service points and seven kills. Veronica Zinytche (12 digs), Anglina Cariddi (nine digs) and Trinity Chen (eight digs) also contributed in a losing cause.
Rerick praised his troops for keeping a year-long promise and was gracious in defeat.
“I’m proud of my girls for how far they made it,” said Rerick, whose team finished with an 11-3 mark in the league. “We were in the semifinals last year and when we left the semifinals last year, we promised ourselves we’d be back so I’m happy that we made it and fulfilled that promise.
“Give credit to Wagner; they served us very tough today; they served us a lot tougher than we served them and that was the difference-maker. The offense, the defense, the hustle — all of that felt pretty even to me but it was all about those serves.”
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NOTES: This will be John Jay’s fifth straight appearance in the city championship, and Altieri knows his Falcons will have to be at their very best to pull out the win. “Great coach (in Michael Salak) and (outside hitter) Lexi Moore is a force to be reckoned with.” Altieri also noted the John Jay middle blocker Zaria Noel is another top player in the city.
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