High school roundup: Venice volleyball advances; Riverview, Ranch, Parrish, Braden River out

WEDNESDAY

Volleyball

Venice 3, Newsome 0

25-20, 25-14, 25-18

VENICE — In front of an energized crowd, the Venice volleyball team played with reckless abandon at a time of year when matches are the most pivotal.

The Indians took momentum bottled up from Saturday’s district championship against Riverview and used it in Wednesday’s regional quarterfinal against Newsome at Venice High.

Venice looked the part of a well-seasoned playoff team, sweeping the Wolves (25-20, 25-14, 25-18) to advance to Saturday’s regional semifinals.

“It’s awesome to see the smiles on their faces,” Venice head coach Jay Lanham said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the way they played [Wednesday]. I think it boiled down to our ability to serve the ball in this one. It’s something we’ve been working on in practice, just doing it over and over again.

“On top of the serving, I thought our kids hit the ball better than we have all year. We got after it offensively, and we were very excited up there. Our blocking was key, because I think it caused the other team to lose a lot of confidence.”

In the first set, Newsome (12-10) showed it was ready to put up a fight. Both Venice (13-9) and the Wolves went back and forth, with both teams trading leads before an 8-8 tie early in the frame.

At one point, Newsome managed to build a 13-10 advantage behind kills from Macy Gebhards and Shelby Toney. However, Venice went on a huge run to take control of the set.

The Indians scored seven unanswered — with the highlight being a pair of aces by Brooke Gruhl — to push ahead 17-13. The Wolves did answer, netting three straight points to move to within 17-16.

From that point, Venice turned it up, outscoring Newsome, 8-4, to win the set. Tien Murray finished things with back-to-back kills. In the second set, the Indians jumped out to a sizable lead. Kohler had two kills and an ace, while Zoe O’Leary added a kill during a 10-3 run to start the set.

The Wolves got to within 14-10, but the Indians dominated from that point, ending the set on an 11-4 run. In the third frame, Newsome started out with hopes of forcing a fourth set and prolonging its season.

The Wolves jumped out to a 13-6 lead, but Jacey McReynolds helped Venice quickly evaporate that deficit behind some strong serving. Venice pushed ahead 16-15, pulling back into the lead behind McReynolds’ three aces.

“Jacey McReynolds went back there and had nine, 10 in a row to put us back in position to win that set,” Lanham said. “It didn’t even faze her. It looked like that was exactly where she wanted to be, and that’s how you’re going to win games. You’re going to win games at the service line.”

The lead would swell to 24-18 before Kohler ended the set and the match with an ace. Kohler and Murray each had 11 kills to lead Venice, while Brighton Ferguson led the way in digs with 18. Venice had 21 aces on the night, with Gruhl leading the team with six. McReynolds had five and Ferguson finished with four.

With the win, No. 3 Venice will travel to No. 2 Winter Haven (20-5) for the regional semifinals on Saturday. “We’re looking forward to heading down to Winter Haven,” Lanham said. “It’s going to be a really great match with two good teams going at each other, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we do, because we’re playing really good volleyball right now.”

Palm Harbor 3, Riverview 0

25-23, 25-19, 25-14

Charlotte 3, Lakewood Ranch 0

25-16, 25-18, 25-19

Sunlake 3, Parrish 0

25-12, 25-14, 25-15

Wesley Chapel 3, Braden River 0

25-20, 25-18, 25-10

TUESDAY

Cardinal Mooney 3, Tampa Catholic 0

25-13, 25-19, 25-15

SARASOTA - An FYI for Calvary Christian head volleyball coach Kim Whitney, and whomever else the Cardinal Mooney team might face in the Class 3A state volleyball tournament:

Cougar head coach Allan Knight likes the way his team is playing.

“One-hundred percent,” Knight said after his Cougars dispatched of visiting Tampa Catholic 3-0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-15) on Tuesday night in a 3A-Region 3 quarterfinal match at the Cougar gym. “This team bought into the system from day one. There were some growing pains early in the season, we knew that, but they’ve all just bought in . . . and they have all focused on it. We’re just going to carry that forward.”

The victory, Mooney’s 10th in its last 11 matches, moved its record to 21-4 and into a regional semifinal match on Saturday night at 7 at Calvary Christian, a winner over Cardinal Newman. No. 2 Calvary is seeded higher in the region than No. 3 Mooney, despite having lost to the Cougars, 3-2, last month.

After losing the first game, 25-13, the Crusaders (17-9), who had never advanced to the regional round in four seasons under head coach Whitney Witthun, tied the Cougars at 16-all in the second game on a kill by 6-foot-4 middle hitter Milan Sayles. But at that point, the Cougars ripped off three straight points, the last on a kill by middle hitter Riley Greene, to take the 19-16 lead.

After the Crusaders scored twice to cut the Mooney lead to 19-18, Knight’s team engineered a run, bringing it to match point at 24-18. A Cougar net ball made it 24-19 before a kill by Cougar Charlee Hermann ended it. But it was in the third game when the Cougars showed their muscle.

Down 12-9, Mooney, with Izzy Russell serving, the Cougars assumed a 21-9 lead. After the 25-15, three-game sweep, Knight spoke of the third-game run that seemed to happen in a matter of minutes. “A lot of that was Izzy Russell,” the first-year Mooney coach said. “We went on a run, and a lot of that was Izzy Russell serving.

“Just kind of carving them up,” he said. “Just really had excellent serving, excellent placement. And (Russell) just started that rally with a great serve, put (Tampa Catholic) out of system, and then we kept capitalizing. That’s us. Not only do we go on very aggressive serving, but the defense is on point where it’s like Katie Powers is back there just gobbling up everything. Nothing drops on her court. The girls are picking up tips, they’re picking up rolls, and our blockers are doing their job, and that’s when we really enjoy the defensive side.”

The Crusaders were missing their freshman libero, Lola Pinzon, who may have been able to stem Russell’s serving run in the third game. “It would have been (nice),” Witthun said. “We had a breakdown in the service game. We can tell they are well coached and were hitting the open areas.”

For the Cougars, Russell had nine kills, 20 assists, and 23 service attempts; Hermann had 12 kills, 24 assists, and six digs; Riley Greene had 12 kills, 24 assists, and three digs; Katie Powers had 23 digs; Zoe Kirby had 10 kills, 14 assists, and two digs; Sydney Sparma had four assists and eight digs; and Layla Larrick had five assists and seven digs.

- Doug Fernandes

Sarasota Christian 3, Universal Academy 0

25-15, 25-10, 25-20

SARASOTA -  After a shaky first few minutes, the Sarasota Christian volleyball team found its footing and rolled to a 25-15, 25-10, 25-20 sweep of Universal Academy in a Class 1A-Region 3 quarterfinal Tuesday night.

The lead went back and forth in the early part of the first set, as neither team could score more than two points in a row, and the score was tied at 7-7. But with Roslyn Abel at the service line, the Blazers finally began to pull away from the Falcons. Then, with Caitlin Webb serving, Sarasota Christian ran off seven straight points to take a 23-9 lead. Allie Smith finished off the game with a kill.

"We started a little slow. Kind of shaky out of the gate," Blazers coach Josh Jordan said. "We made five errors in our first go-around, but simmered down and only made three to finish out the first set."

Abel said the slow start was typical for the Blazers this season.

"We are always a little shaky in the beginning," Abel said. "But a little bit past halfway of the first set we always pull it together and get our nerves out."

The second set was tied at 5-5 before the Blazers went on another run. Izzy Mocherman served seven straight winning points as Sarasota Christian opened up a 16-6 lead. Smith again finished the set with a kill as the Blazers took a 2-0 lead.

The Blazers looked as if they would run away with the third set, grabbing a 12-3 advantage before Jordan began substituting liberally,

"We tried to experiment with different lineups. Just trying to get prepared for the next round, putting people in different positions and seeing where they excel and stuff" Jordan said. "That set was a little tighter than we'd like it to be, but people were playing in a little more uncomfortable positions than they normally are. There's definitely a risk factor with mixing it up too much for sure, but it ended up working out."

The Falcons closed to within four points a couple of times as Sarasota Christian made several service errors in the latter part of the game. But the Blazers stemmed the tide and Smith ended the match with her third game ending kill to send Sarasota Christian, now 14-5, on to the semifinals where they will travel to top-seeded Seacrest Country Day on Saturday.

"It doesn't have to be pretty," Jordan said. "It was a tougher ride than we originally hoped, but I'm glad we were able to get everyone in and showcase at home how Blazer volleyball is."

Ellie Miller led the Blazers with 11 kills, Reagan Miller had 13 digs, and Mocherman served five aces.

- Bruce Robins

Clearwater Central Catholic 3, Bradenton Christian 1

23-25, 25-17, 25-22, 25-15

Boys golf

Saint Stephen's 148, Cardinal Mooney 158

AT : The River Club

TOP PLAYERS: 1. Eddie Gu (SS) 36; 2. Andy Dai (SS) 37; 2. Chase Nicks (SS) 37; 4. Adam Graf (SS) 38; 4. Nicolas Bencomo (CM) 38; 6. Stephen Peloquin (CM) 39; 7. George McCloskey (CM) 40; 8. Shane Russell (CM) 41; 9. Nicholas Brown (CM) 42; 10. Tyler Ellerson (SS) 55

Lakewood Ranch 133, Sarasota 151

AT: Lakewood Ranch G&CC

TOP PLAYERS: 1. Parker Severs (LR) 32; 1. Henry Burbee (LR) 32; 3. Brett Traver 34; 4. Luke Wilson (LR) 35; 4, Donovan Plakyda (LR) 35; 6. Jack Wessinger (LR) 36; 6. Jake McDonald (S) 36; 8. Jacob Menard (S) 37; 8. Nathan Witman (LR) 37; 10. Ryan Giampietro (LR) 38; 11. Evan Booth (S) 39; 11. Jayden Potter (S) 39; 13. Tristan Fernandez de Castro (S) 41; 15. Blake Dejohgh (S) 42; Vance Freeman (S) 42

RECORD: Lakewood Ranch 115-14

NEXT: The Mustangs will golf in the Class 3A-District 11 tournament on Monday at noon at Jacaranda West CC in Venice.

MONDAY

Girls golf

Out-of-Door's Cullen wins Clearwater Central Catholic Invite

Boys golf

Lakewood Ranch wins County Championship for 7th straight year; Falcon Gu wins individual title with a 68

AT : Manatee County GC

TEAM SCORES : 1. Lakewood Ranch 291; 2. Saint Stephen's 308; 3. Lakewood Ranch 2 316; 4. Parrish 317; 5. Palmetto 319; 6. Bradenton Christian 320; 7. Braden River 322; 8. Manatee 336

TOP PLAYERS : 1. Eddie Gu (SS) 68; 2. Henry Burbee (LR) 70; 2. Parker Severs (LR) 70; 4. Andy Dai (SS) 71; 5. Chase Nicks (SS) 74; 6. Brett Traver (LR) 75; 8. Luke Wilson (LR) 76; 8. Nathan Witman (LR) 76; 15. Will Thomas (LR) 79; 18. Ryan Giampietro (LR) 80; 24. Owen Gellatly (LR) 81; 24. Cam Stoller (LR) 81; 24. Gavin Schoenfeld (LR) 81; 28. Jack Wessinger (LR) 82; 29. Donovan Plakyda (LR) 83; 41. Adam Graf (SS) 93; 44. Tyler Ellerson (SS) 102

NEXT : Lakewood Ranch hosts Sarasota, Tuesday, 3:30 p.m.; Lakewood Ranch G&CC

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: High school roundup: Venice volleyball advances; Riverview, Ranch, Parrish, Braden River out