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Royal Knights Upbeat After Adding Another SAC Crown

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By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 23, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - There's no doubt River Ridge finished out the regular season on a high note.

The Royal Knights (21-5), already the No. 1 seed in the Class 5A-District 7 tournament, which begins today at the Jim Valentine Athletic Complex, collected the program's ninth Sunshine Athletic Conference title with a 25-21, 25-16, 25-18 victory against Zephyrhills in their Oct. 18 regular-season finale.

It's the sixth SAC crown for the squad in seven years and the first one it hasn't had to share since 2003 (2005 shared with Mitchell; 2004 shared with Hudson).

'I think the SAC proves your consistency throughout your year,' River Ridge coach Heidi Castelamare said. 'You're having good games consistently and it shows your consistency from the start to the finish and not peaking at a certain time.

'Plus, you're taking three districts, the 4A, 5A and 6A, and putting them into one championship. To me it means a lot because you're taking strong districts and beating them.'

Of the nine SAC titles and the nine district championships, both have been accomplished the same season five times.

THROUGH SICKNESS AND IN HEALTH: Mitchell's Lea Weber proved she would be there for her teammates no matter what during the Mustangs' 26-16, 25-21, 25-23 victory against Land O' Lakes on Tuesday.

Weber led the team in kills (13) and also collected 13 assists, 12 digs and three blocks.

What makes her performance a gutsy one is the fact Weber, on timeouts and in between games, would have to leave the gym to vomit. On top of it all, Game 3 wasn't a gimme for the Mustangs (18-7) as Mitchell was behind, 23-14.

Alyssa Updegrave served out the final 10 points, including two aces, of the match for the Mustangs, while Ariela Salvati collected four kills during that run.

Veronica Harring got the kill for point 24 and Sarah Bash ended the match on her kill.

OUT OF THE FOG: After a rough end to the regular season, Land O' Lakes (16-9) is not willing to repeat that stretch, in which it lost four of five games. Instead, the team is ready to do something that hasn't happened in more than a decade at the school - advance into the regional tournament.

'Obviously we would like to win districts, but right now, we're just looking at continuing our season past districts,' Land O' Lakes coach Michelle Griffin said. 'That's our main focus.

In addition to the looming possibility of reaching the regional tournament and the fact it's been so long since the team has escaped the district tournament, the Gators want to finish the season the way it began, winning eight of its first nine contests.

That has given the squad a case of the jitters.

'I don't know if they're intimidated or sort of afraid right now going in to it , but it's mainly because they don't want to see it end now, Griffin said. 'They don't want to go out on a bad note.'

HOMECOMING OR PLAYOFFS? As if River Ridge didn't have enough to worry about during the district tournament, it's also homecoming week.

The same thing happened during the 2006 Region 3 semifinals. The Royal Knights hosted Lake Howell in volleyball and the football team hosted Brooksville Central on Friday night. There was a domino effect as the football team dropped its game, 25-14 and the volleyball team was eliminated from the playoffs, 25-16, 25-19, 25-21.

'A few distractions going on,' Castelamare said of this season homecoming slate, 'but hopefully the girls will be able to bring it.'

This year, the Land O' Lakes football team makes a visit to the Jim Valentine Athletic Complex.

PLAYING UP: Zephyrhills coach Tiffany Bibby intentionally scheduled tough competition on the eve of the district tournament.

It wasn't to give the Bulldogs (20-4) the losses they earned, as three of their losses came in the final week of the regular season (Hudson, Nature Coast and River Ridge), but it was to get her team to play up.

'Hopefully our skill level will be up since we've been playing against the top teams in the area,' Bibby said. 'That was a big reason I wanted the schedule to work out this way. ... On the same token, I don't want us going into that tournament overconfident.'

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