TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

VOLLEYBALL: River Ridge Overcomes 2-Game Deficit To Down Nature Coast

ADVERTISEMENT

By EDDIE DANIELS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 19, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY – Nature Coast volleyball coach Dan Murphey stood along the sideline Wednesday night and told reporters what he knew of River Ridge.

"I've known River Ridge for years," he said. "They are a comeback team."

The Royal Knights solidified that billing by persevering through a two-game deficit against the Sharks and mounting a 23-25, 22-25, 25-15, 26-24, 15-6 comeback victory, which likely will remain in the memory for most involved.

In Games 1 and 2, Nature Coast took 25-13, 25-22 victories and needed a final win to claim the match. In those games, River Ride collected 10 and six hitting errors, respectively, digging themselves into a hole.

"I think we passed and served a lot better [in the final three games]," River Ridge coach Heidi Castelamare said. "We had a ton of hitting errors, which is unlike us and we rattled off a bunch of serving errors as well.

"The last couple of matches we've had a lot of serving errors. Thos are just unforced errors that we don't need to make."

Alas, River Ridge (7-1) tightened up on its errors in Game 3 and following the first four points of the match, the Royal Knights took the lead and never looked back. Helping matters were the three streaks of consecutive points by River Ridge. The first came following an errant Nature Coast serve, which allowed a four-point spurt and a 12-6 River Ridge advantage.

The second four-point burst included two Brooke Castelamare aces and a dump for a kill.

Game 4 was more of a battle of wills as it was knotted 10 times. Nature Coast actually had a 21-17 advantage before Brooke Castelamare scored a sideout with a kill.

River Ridge went on to tie the match at 22-22 with a Kelly Hughes ace and ended it on a quick tip by Hughes for a kill.

"Everybody was ready to play," Heidi Castelamare said of watching her players endure the deficit. "I'm sure they were hesitating, but just go out and play. Have fun, go play your game.

"I knew we were a stronger overall team. They have good players, but as a whole we were a stronger group."

Reporter Eddie Daniels can be reached at (813) 948-4214 or edaniels@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT