Royal Knights Get Revenge On Gators

NEW PORT RICHEY - Immediately after the final point fell to the floor Thursday night, Land O' Lakes coach Michelle Griffin led her team into the hallway of the Jim Valentine Athletic Complex.

It was River Ridge's thorough victory - 25-11, 25-15, 25-14 - that prompted the immediate exit.

During that meeting, away from the fans and opponents' prying eyes, Griffin and assistant Laurie Paholke spoke to the team, as did seniors Kayli Keough and Danielle Priest.

'I basically told them just be happy, that this could be two weeks from now, because we could be in the same exact place, dealing with same types of teams,' Griffin said of the speech imparted upon her players. 'I said, let's use this as a learning experience, come back and show them who we really are.'

Still on the court, taking down the net between hugs and momentary pauses of celebration with friends and parents, the River Ridge players remained.

Considering the 25-22, 18-25, 25-22, 25-15 loss the Royal Knights (15-2) suffered in the season opener between the teams, it was obvious there was a new team opposing Land O' Lakes (13-6) on Thursday night.

'I think this was our best performance in a match so far,' River Ridge senior Emily Lehman said. 'And we really showed our real skills. Sometimes we let them get on us from the beginning and then we finally pick it up, and sometimes that makes us lose a game, but we started out strong from the beginning.'

River Ridge jumped out to a 5-1 advantage to start the match, but Land O' Lakes fought back and closed the gap, 9-8, with blocks from Lauren Bean and Keough, as well as a Keough kill.

After a Gators serve sailed out, the Royal Knights outscored Land O' Lakes 14-3, taking Game 1.

In that first game, River Ridge held Keough to one kill.

That was because of a River Ridge defense that knew where the ball would be and how to react. As a result, Brooke Castelamare collected a team-high 18 digs, followed by Lehman (15), Brianna Rish (12), Brittney Frey (9) and Lauren Sansonetti (8).

'We had our defense down,' senior setter Kelly Hughes said. 'On the one angle where Kayli hit and her slide, we knew exactly where to be, because in the first match we played against them in August, that's where all her balls went.'

Game 2 was more of the same as River Ridge built an early advantage and kept the Land O' Lakes hitters at bay.

Hughes was not just a factor on defense, but also on the River Ridge attack as she distributed the ball well enough to keep her hitters away from the Gators' imposing front row.

Hughes ended the night with 24 assists.

The teams could see each other one last time in the Class 5A-District 7 tournament later this month. When they meet, Griffin hopes her group has learned its lesson.

'I think, if anything, this was a good lesson because they need to know that River Ridge is a strong team,' she said. 'I don't think they realized that the first time we played them because we beat them in four ... they were under the impression River Ridge wasn't as good as a team as they normally are.'