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Bucs Advance To Region Final

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A Tribune staff report

Published: November 7, 2007

TAMPA - In one of the more uncharacteristic performances by the Berkeley Prep volleyball team this season, the Buccaneers managed to hold off a determined Academy of the Holy Names team in three games 25-12, 25-22, 25-19 Tuesday to advance to the Class 3A-Region 4 final.

Berkeley Prep will host Fort Pierce John Carroll on Saturday at 2 p.m.

The Buccaneers (23-6), ranked No. 2 in the latest Class 3A state poll, had 17 hitting errors, but got 15 kills and a season-high 11 blocks from sophomore middle hitter Lindsay Young. Sophomores Alex Dickerson and Chelsea Parker added 13 and 10 kills.

"We probably had more hitting errors tonight than in recent memory," said Berkeley Prep coach Randy Dagostino, who added the team only had five errors against Holy Names in the district final. "We've always had great hitting percentage."

The errors allowed the Jaguars (13-16) to constantly stay within one point during the second and third games. Before Parker and Young helped close out the game with a few kills, there were nine ties in Game 2. In Game 3, Holy Names closed the deficit to 21-19 in hopes of forcing a fourth game, but couldn't make a run.

"Every time, it went back and forth, back and forth," said Holy Names coach Doug Chinchar, who decided to step down from coaching the program after the season. "If we would have grabbed that lead, we would have got them."

Senior outside hitter Maureen Colligan, who recently committed to Colgate, led the Jaguars with 10 kills.
Nick Williams
Class 6A-Region 3

TAMPA - Durant's Alexa Donini said she knew the Cougars would have to play its best game of the season against Sickles in the regional semifinals - and as a team they did. The Cougars spread the offense around as Durant (20-6) rebounded from a decisive Game 1 win by Sickles (23-5) to win three straight and take the match 17-25, 25-21, 25-23, 25-22.

"That was probably the best we ever played," Donini said. "We knew coming in Sickles was never going to give up."

In the first game, Sickles used three 4-0 runs and two 3-0 runs to pull away from the Cougars. The Gryphons had four aces in the game, with Stephanie Krull leading the team with two in the first game and five for the match. However, from the second game on, Durant showed its composure and steadily stayed ahead of the Gryphons for most of the games.

In the second game, Durant had a six-point run that included three kills from Chelsea Morris and an ace from Donini to push the Cougars' lead to 16-13. Durant added an ace from Morris in a 4-0 run later in the game.

In the third game, both teams kept the game close with each team holding a four-point lead at different points in the game. Donini ended the game with an ace for the Cougars' two-point win.
Sickles opened the final game early with a forceful second-serve ace from Sara Vance. However, the Cougars answered quickly keeping the game close before taking the final advantage at 17-17 and winning with Donini serving.

For Durant, Donini had 32 assists and 15 digs, leading the team in both categories. Chelsea Albritton had 16 kills and, along with Donini, had two aces.

For Sickles, Madison Comperry had seven digs and 33 assists and Vance had 17 kills.

Jarrett Guthrie

Class 5A-3

NEW PORT RICHEY - The bus ride took longer than expected, and the first game went as expected for Brandon, but the result wasn't quite what host River Ridge anticipated.

The Eagles collected a 13-25, 25-20, 25-16, 26-24 victory and will host Winter Park Lake Howell on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the regional final.

The dominance River Ridge (23-6) displayed was exactly what Brandon coach Amy Watson figured following the 1 1/2 -hour drive from Brandon.

"It was awful, traffic was crazy. We got off the bus, River Ridge was already warming up," Watson said. "We basically had a microwave warmup, and I knew that first game we were going to come out really cold because we weren't ready."

The Royal Knights built an 11-5 advantage, forcing the Eagles to call a timeout, which did nothing to stop River Ridge's momentum. Lauren Sansonetti colleted three aces, increasing the Royal Knights' advantage to 18-7.

Brandon (21-3) caught its wind in Game 2 after tying the game at 11. Once it took the lead, 13-12, Brandon never looked back.

Hitting and blocking from middle hitters Megan Fenzau, Audra Geniesse and unforced River Ridge errors, gave the Eagles a 21-8 advantage and an eventual 25-16 Game 3 win.

With Brandon ahead 24-18 in Game 4, River Ridge fought off its demise as long as it could. Brittney Frey collected five service points and a shared block by Leah Mitchell and Alex Laton tied the game at 24.

Eddie Daniels

Class 5A-4

CLEARWATER - For two games, Clearwater threw everything it had at Plant.

Spikes. Digs. Pinpoint serves. Again, and again.

Plant never wavered.

What Plant did - behind the diving and digging of sophomore libero Ali McCurdy, the setting of Kellie Catanach and the outside hitting of Danielle Erb and Maddie Martin - was calmly, cooly and aggressively answer.

After the Panthers won Game 1 25-19 and held off an intense Game 2 rally to win 25-23, the Tornadoes seemed to lose all life. Game 3 was a wipeout, 25-11, and the defending state-champion Panthers had sealed a Class 5A region semifinal victory.

"My team was spent after Game 2," Clearwater coach Tracy Sedely said. "We were done. We had fought and fought and done so many things well, but, Plant did what it had to do. Hey, Plant is one of the best teams in the country and we gave them everything we had."

Perhaps Clearwater's biggest nemesis was McCurdy, who dug ball after ball that would have otherwise resulted in Clearwater points.

None more than during Game 2 as Cleawater (25-5) held a 23-22 and held serve. After the Tornadoes served a ball out, McCurdy dug one more and the Panthers went on to win the next two points.

Plant (27-1) will host Venice (27-3) in Saturday's final, a face-off that Plant won in last year's state semifinal.

Scott Purks

Class 2A-3

LARGO - Tampa Prep is one win from a trip to the Class 2A state tournament as a result of beating district nemesis Indian Rocks Christian in the Region 3 semifinals. The visiting Terrapins won three consecutive games to win the match in four games 19-25, 25-19, 25-16, 25-15.

It was the fourth time Tampa Prep and Indian Rocks Christian had faced each other this season: twice in the regular season, with Tampa Prep winning both times, once in the district championship, which Indian Rocks Christian won, and Tuesday.

In fact, it was the loss in the district title match that left an aftertaste in the mouths of the Terrapins.

"You rarely get a second chance - we actually had a fourth chance - and we took advantage of it," said Terrapins outside hitter Alena Ransom. "We had the sting of the loss in the district final with us and we used it."

Alisa French had 14 kills and six blocks for the Terrapins, while teammate Dana Malinowski had 10 kills and 10 blocks.

Lee Diekemper

Class 2A-4

ST. PETERSBURG - Northside Christian went down in three games - 25-7, 25-13, 25-11 - to Fort Myers Evangelical Christian to end the Mustangs' season.

Playing on their home court under Coach Holly Filer, the Mustangs (22-6) fielded their team of no seniors and only four juniors against Coach Tom Baxter's Sentinels, sporting three seniors.

"We knew they had middles, and we thought if we could serve well enough, we could keep their middles out of the game," Baxter explained.

"We'll keep doing our same thing," he said of the upcoming region final."

Steve Sims

Class 1A-4

TAMPA - For at least a few fleeting moments, the script was altered during Tuesday's semifinals. Just as quickly, Bayshore Christian brought everyone back to reality.

A commanding 17-3 run erased an early six-point deficit and earned a Game 1 victory that Bayshore Christian turned into yet another three-game rout of visiting Cambridge Christian as the Warriors earned a return ticket to the region final.

"I have a sick team, and we just keep passing it around, so we haven't had a full team to practice," Bayshore Christian coach Melanie Humenansky said. "We've already beaten them twice this season, so the girls knew it's a mindset that you've got to come in and play the way we always play. We talked about not providing them opportunities off our errors and that's what got them the lead in the first game. Once we corrected those mistakes, we were able to control things the rest of the way."

Junior outside hitter Sami Stokes led Bayshore Christian (25-5) with 12 kills, five blocks and six aces, while Jannica Mollett added 11 kills and Ashley Rios 30 assists as the Warriors won 25-17, 25-14, 25-14 to earn their third sweep of visiting Cambridge Christian this season. Included in those victory was a win in the district final two weeks ago.

Bayshore Christian plays Lake Worth Christian in Saturday's region final in West Palm Beach.

Senior Caroline Conner led the Lancers (18-6) with 39 assists, while teammate Melissa Olsson added 11 kills.

Chris Errington

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