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Bulldogs Earn Their Respect

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By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 3, 2007

ORLANDO - There is one more thing the Zephyrhills volleyball team can check on its to-do list - earn respect.

The Bulldogs entered the season wanting a handful of things: at least a split in meetings against the likes of Hudson, improve on last season's 22-7 record, and make its first journey into the playoffs since 1999.

The Bulldogs (23-5) accomplished all of those goals, and in the process they earned a healthy dose of respect.

Blame the lack of respect on the fact that Zephyrhills was 14-51 in the three seasons prior to 2006.

"I think we made a big change about how people thought about us," Zephyrhills senior Jessica McCall said.

Wednesday night, the Zephyrhills season came to an abrupt end following a loss to Orlando Bishop Moore (25-17, 25-13, 25-17).

The Bulldogs' second-place finishes in Class 4A-District 8 and the Sunshine Athletic Conference were the result of hard work the squad put in during the offseason.

"I don't have one kid who plays club volleyball," Zephyrhills coach Tiffany Bibby said. "They got better because they came every day since April for open gym, lifting weights, trying to get better; there's aqua aerobics at the Y. At the pool, at someone's apartment, they're going, getting a workout, that's it.

"They only had two weeks off this summer, since April, so I'm so pleased with them."

In Game 1 of Zephyrhills' region quarterfinal game, Bishop Moore built an early lead and never let go, holding off small runs by the Bulldogs.

Zephyrhills fell behind 17-5 in Game 2 and couldn't make up the difference down the stretch. However, Zephyrhills never gave up on the attempted comeback.

"At the end of the first game, Zephyrhills started to fight back and my girls were kind of surprised," Hornets coach Piper Morgan said. "Between the games I told them 'you guys can't be surprised that someone's going to fight back.' I said this is going to end someone's season. No one wants to lose."

In the final game, Zephyrhills kept it much closer, going on a 5-0 run after a timeout. A kill by Kristen Arnold built momentum, and a block by Arnold and Taylor Willis forced the Hornets to call a timeout after its advantage was cut to 17-16.

After running its record to 4-0 at the start of the season, the biggest test Zephyrhills faced came in the fifth contest, when they traveled to Hudson. The Bulldogs put the county on notice it was for real with a 25-22, 25-22, 25-23 victory in the Cobras' gym.

The squad also had wins against Nature Coast and Land O' Lakes in its run to the 4A-8 championship game.

"We were preparing, we were ready, we were determined we were going to do something this year," Arnold said. "We just worked out, we practiced every day, we had two-a-days this summer.

"We were determined this year."

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