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River Ridge Learns From Bishop Moore Tourney

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By EDDIE DANIELS

edaniels@tampatrib.com

Published: October 9, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - After returning from the Orlando Bishop Moore volleyball tournament, River Ridge's players began to chime in.

"I have girls coming to me saying we need to do this and this and this," River Ridge coach Heidi Castelamare said. "We need to practice longer, we need to focus on defense. Tons of things they even came up to me and said they wanted to do. We need people hitting the ball harder at us, so we get used to that kind of attack."

The bevy of recommendations came in the face of a 2-3 showing at the tournament against the likes of Melbourne Holy Trinity Episcopal, Miami Ransom Everglades, Winter Park, Orlando Boone and Miami Florida Christian.

The Royal Knights (14-3) lost their opening match against Trinity, 25-16, 25-12, then bounced back with a 25-22, 25-22 victory against Ransom. River Ridge dropped its next match to Winter Park (25-14, 25-16) before beating Boone (25-22, 25-23) and losing to Florida Christian (25-19, 25-8).

Alex Laton totaled 29 kills during the tournament, followed by Leah Mitchell (22); Brianna Rish collected 33 digs, in addition to Laton's 24, Gabriella Gonzalez and Irene Townsend's (16) and 14 by Kayla Mcilwain. Mitchell led with 16 blocks followed by Rose Gilmartin (9) and Laton (7). Gonzalez also racked up 33 assists.

Castelamare called the competition "unbelievably talented" and said it absolutely showed her team they have to elevate their play if they want to be major players in the postseason.

"We don't have room to make mistakes in that type of situation," Castelamare said. "We need to up our game a little bit more. Those times against competition in this area, we can get aces and kills. Our stats on those are pretty high as far as effectiveness on kills. Then we go to a tournament like that and they're digging balls left and right, we're not getting those kills; we're getting very few aces. You know the defense is at a lot higher level, as well as the offense than what we normally see in the regular season. And that's why we go to those tournaments, to up our game and figure out what we need to do to get to the next level."

COBRAS ON A BEACH: Well, not exactly. Hudson took its regular sojourn to Fort Lauderdale for the Cardinal Gibbons tournament. They took on the likes of Cardinal Gibbons, Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy, Hollywood Hills, Miami Monsignor Pace and Coral Springs.

Of those five opponents, Hudson (12-7) beat Monsignor Pace, 25-21, 25-12. Since that tourney, the Cobras have collected victories against Sunlake and Pasco.

SAC RACE: River Ridge has gotten a hefty head start on its race to a 10th Sunshine Athletic Conference title. The Royal Knights have yet to be defeated by a Pasco County opponent and is the only team in the county with that distinction.

Hudson suffered a single loss in SAC play, to River Ridge. While the top two spots are clear, the competition for third place is a bit muddled as Wiregrass Ranch, Mitchell and Zephyrhills fight to stay within striking distance.

NEVER MIND THE RECORD: If the season has an allotted number of hoops for each team to jump through, Gulf likely has been through all of them. It appears the Bucs are learning from those lessons.

First-year coach Chris Vergnaud inherited a team full of youth. He currently has six sophomores and three freshmen in addition to three juniors. The team's only senior was dismissed from the team for discipline reasons.

As the season has progressed, the Bucs (1-14 before Wednesday night's match against Land O' Lakes) have gone from scoring 10 points to reaching the 20-plus points level. The offense has looked sharper, players on defense are moving their feet more and the setting has improved.

"They're pulling together, that's the thing," Vergnaud said. "Even through the adversity we've had, they're pulling together. They're really starting to work together as a team. They're communicating a lot better than what they started off with. Overall, I'm happy with them. I'm proud of them.

"They keep working hard for me and they just keep growing and learning at the same time and really, that's all that matters right now."

ALL ABOUT THE FIGHT: Following Mitchell's 21-25, 25-22, 25-20, 17-25, 11-15 loss to River Ridge last week, Mitchell coach Keith Paulk was disappointed with the outcome, but was enthusiastic about the tenacity his team displayed.

During that match, the Mustangs became the first team this season to snatch away a game from River Ridge. In 10 previous matches, the Royal Knights swept each of their foes 3-0.

"Here's what we do," Paulk said. "We go out there and battle and we battle and we try to pop balls up and we try to get balls to hitters and we keep swinging and we try to keep the point alive and keep playing every single point.

"We've been to five lots of times. We know we just have to give it our all and at the end hope things bounce our way and we can beat these people."

The Volleyball Notebook will run every Thursday in the Pasco Tribune. Coaches who want to add their team's information can submit their entries to Eddie Daniels by calling (813) 948-4214 or e-mailing.

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