Armwood, Newsome survive in Class 5A-District 8

Armwood volleyball coach Mike Wyatt said any of the top four seeds in the Class 5A-District 8 tournament could advance to the district championship match.

Boy was he right.

The top two seeds in the tournament - Armwood and Newsome - narrowly escaped upsets in Tuesday's semifinal round to advance to Thursday's title match and clinch playoff berths.

Newsome, the No. 2 seed, lost the first two games to third-seeded Durant, 22-25, 14-25, but rallied to win the next three, 25-21, 26-24 and 15-11. Seniors Lauren Zellmer and Hillary Byrd led the Wolves with 10 kills apiece.

"I was kind of nervous to play them, I don't know if the players were," said first-year Newsome coach Kate Correa. "They thought 'oh we can beat them, we beat them twice.' But (Durant) is a tricky team."

Armwood (14-1), the top seed, lost the first game to No. 4-seeded Riverview, 22-25, but won three consecutive games, 30-28, 25-22 and 25-22.

Senior outside hitter Emilee Taylor led the Hawks with 30 kills, 14 service points and four aces.

The win marks Armwood's first playoff berth since 2007.

Nick Williams

Gaither, Sickles advance in 5A-9

Two teams on a collision course since the start of the season will face off Thursday when Sickles visits Gaither in the 5A-9 championship match.

The Cowboys defeated Sickles to earn the top seed in the district, and both teams made quick work of getting to the final on Tuesday. Sickles routed Leto, 25-19, 25-13 and 25-12, and Gaither followed with wins of 25-15, 25-17 and 25-19 against Freedom to set up Thursday's rematch.

Gaither coach Tim Boylan figured he would be seeing Sickles again this season.

"We always have great matchups with Sickles," Boylan said. "We always play to the level of our opponent, and they are a great opponent."

Gaither was never seriously threatened. Sara Wood had 19 digs and Laura Ackard had five aces as the Cowboys won in straight sets. The teams were tied at 7 in the second game, but Gaither ripped off six consecutive points to put the set away.

Sickles also dominated throughout against a Leto team that won seven of eight down the stretch to qualify for districts, but the Gryphons dominated early behind Lauren Ramsey's 10 kills and nine aces.

Jeff Berlinicke

Bayshore will face test in district final

SEFFNER - One of the most impressive winning streaks in Hillsborough County - 13 consecutive district titles for Bayshore Christian volleyball - will be put to a test in Thursday night's 1A-8 final.

The Faith Warriors' opponent, No. 1 seed Bradenton Christian, has already defeated Bayshore this season.

"I expect it to be very close," Bayshore Christian coach Melanie Humenansky said. "We're looking forward to it."

Bayshore (13-11) advanced to Thursday's final by defeating Hernando Christian 25-22, 25-14, 25-14 in Tuesday's semifinal, an outcome that was followed by a nail-biting semifinal between Bradenton Christian and Seffner Christian.

Bradenton Christian (22-4) finally won 25-15, 22-25, 25-13, 26-24, pulling out the last game after trailing 24-20.

Seffner Christian finished its season 6-12, while Hernando Christian finished 13-13.

Scott Purks

IRC will face Tampa Prep

LARGO - As expected, host Indian Rocks Christian will face top-seeded Tampa Prep for the 2A-10 title Thursday after easy semifinal matches.

Both squads won in three games. Tampa Prep took care of Bishop McLaughlin 25-6 25-12, 25-12, while Indian Rocks Christian dispatched Calvary Christian 25-13, 25-10, 25-11.

It seemed that the biggest challenge for both Tampa Prep coach Mike Flynn and Indian Rocks Christian coach Mark Foster was to keep their teams from looking forward to Thursday's duel.

Madison Loebel had 11 kills and 13 blocks while Rachael Jones added 27 assists for the Golden Eagles.

There will be no looking past Thursday's final.

"Oh, when they see Tampa Prep, they get pretty motivated," Flynn said of IRC. "They have a lot of desire to beat Tampa Prep."

Caroline Dillabough had 26 assists for Tampa Prep, while Savannah Cantrel added nine kills.

Lee Diekemper