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Plant City volleyball in playoffs?

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By DAREK SHARP

dsharp@tampatrib.com

Published: September 16, 2009

PLANT CITY - The word "playoffs" is not one very often bandied around the Plant City High volleyball program.

That's understandable since the Raiders have never been to the postseason.

But in part because of a better district outlook and more largely because of a greatly improving program, Plant City can at least speak of playoffs with a collective straight face.

Already the Raiders have pulled off a program first, getting out to a 5-0 start.

"That was something that everyone asked the next day: 'Has Plant City EVER been 5-0 in volleyball?' But I'm not surprised," second-year head coach Kerri-Ann Grosso said. "They work hard, some of them have played club ball so they have more experience, and the environment has changed. Things are very positive."

Plant City on Sept. 8 defeated King 25-21, 25-19, 26-24 for its fifth win in a row.

Grosso, who moved to Plant City before the start of last school year after seven years as a successful college assistant coach, has a strong group of eight juniors along with two senior leaders, Shea Kirk and Haylee Dietrich.

The biggest shoes to fill belonged to setter Ali Boggs, who is now playing at Florida Tech in Melbourne. Right now Grosso is getting contributions at setter from a freshman, Stephanie Taylor, who played club ball at Grosso's Tampa United this summer.

Alix Hooker and Analise Coffee lead the juniors contingent from an experience standpoint and they are joined on the team by 11th-graders Courtney Hunt, Allie Goodrich, Savannah Molinowski, Stephanie Kovacks, Nikki Westbrook and Kasey Worlock.

Amy Broher, who was on the junior varsity team last year, is the lone sophomore on the roster.

Plant City began the year by playing in a preseason tournament, another rarity for the Raiders. They went to Seffner Christian Academy and defeated the hosts along with Shorecrest Prep from St. Petersburg.

"Both matches went to five games, and even though they shouldn't have gotten to that point, it was good because we got all of that work in," Grosso said.

Plant City then began the regular season with wins over Leto, Lennard and King, dropping a total of one game.

No longer having to deal with yearly trips to Sarasota to play perennial power Sarasota Riverview, the Raiders not only have a more desirable travel schedule, they can honestly say they have a shot to make the playoffs.

Durant is considered the class of District 5A-7. Certainly it appears Plant Citycanhang with the other five teams, Armwood, East Bay, Newsome, Riverview and Tampa Bay Tech. District play began Sept. 10 against Newsome. This Thursday the Raiders host district opponent Riverview.

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