VENICE — Venice volleyball capped off its two-game homestead this week with yet another sweep at the friendly confines of Venice High.
The Indians managed to fight off stretches of strong offensive outbursts from Visiting Tampa Prep with consistent play across all three sets to sweep the Terrapins — 25-22, 25-18, 25-18 — and stay undefeated at home in the regular season.
“I was proud of the effort and the way we played,” Venice head coach Jay Lanham said. “I think we’re serving the ball tougher than we’ve served in a long time. And I think that’s putting pressure on a lot of the teams that we face. It’s really an aggressive mindset, it’s a win at all costs mindset, and I couldn’t be happier with the way we continue to push and fight and go for it.”
Venice (7-4) and Tampa Prep (1-3) fought tooth and nail in the opening set, exchanging a number of runs during the second half of the frame.
The Indians built their largest lead of the set (16-10) behind a quartet of kills from Summer Kohler and Zoe O’Leary.
The Terrapins answered later on, outscoring Venice 10-4 to tie the set at 20 a piece. Reece Taylor was the most impressive player for the opposition during the run for Prep, earning two kills, two aces and a block.
In the end, the Indians pushed through, winning 25-22 behind timely kills from Kohler and Brooke Gruhl.
In the second set, Venice weathered an early storm from the Terrapins before dominating later on.
Tampa Prep held a 9-4 advantage with tons of momentum on its side before Venice began closing the gap. Tien Murray (two kills and a block), Madi Robinson (one ace), Gruhl (one kill) and Kohler (one kill) facilitated the run that tied things up at 11.
Later, Venice went on an 8-0 run — which included multiple kills from Ali Estis and Jacey McReynolds — to grab control of the match with a 22-13 lead. Eventually, a kill from McReynolds handed the Indians the set-clinching point at 25-18.
In the final set, Tampa Prep looked poised to force a fourth set, jumping out to an 8-1 lead. Jules Manno had two kills and a block at the net during the run, forcing a timeout by Lanham.
“We just had to settle down and get under control there,” Lanham said. “I think Prep started serving the ball better there and attacking us, and putting pressure on us. Volleyball is a sport where momentum is so important, and they clearly had that momentum to go up so quickly there. We did a good job of settling down after that initial run.”
It appeared all Venice needed was that reset, going on a 12-3 run out of the break to regain the lead at 13-11. McReynolds had two aces and a kill, while Kohler added three kills of her own during the blitz.
The Indians went on to close out the match-clinching set with a 12-7 run to upend the Terrapins, 25-18, completing the sweep.
In the scorebook, as usual, Kohler led all Venice players with 11 kills. However, she had close company in this contest with Murray and McReynolds finishing with nine and seven kills, respectively.
Kohler played really well defensively as well, adding 12 digs to her stat line. Brighton Ferguson (11) and Gruhl (10) also reached double digits in digs.
Gruhl also led the team in assists (33) and blocks (3), while McReynolds led the Indians in aces with six.
Next week, Venice hits the road for a pair of away matches on Tuesday against Trinity Catholic (Ocala) and on Wednesday against Berkeley Prep (Tampa).
“Trinity Catholic has played well this season, and they’re always going to fight,” Lanham said. “Going into that environment on Tuesday will be tough. Then, we’ll have Berkeley Prep again, a team we lost to in the preseason. They had a good showing in the Nike Tournament of Champions tourney that we played in, so I’m excited to see how we shape up against them a second time.”
VENICE GOLFBoth Indians golf teams managed to get in some golf this week despite the recent rainy weather that’s been causing multiple cancellations on the links.
The girls team played a tri-match with Cardinal Mooney and North Port, losing to the Cougars by three strokes.
The Indians finished with a 180, while Cardinal Mooney had a 177. North Port came in third with a 222.
Individually for Venice, Ella Gardner continues her impressive sophomore campaign, finishing with the lowest score of the entire field (34).
Camryn Davis had a strong round, shooting a 41, while Vanessa Rieger (46) and Hailey Table (59) rounded out the top scores for the Indians (2-1-1).
This upcoming week, the Venice girls have matches scheduled at Lakewood Ranch on Tuesday and at home against Riverview (Waterford Golf Club) on Thursday. Both slated for 3:30 p.m.
The boys team didn’t get any golf in the middle of the week due to weather, but last weekend, they competed in the Lakewood Ranch Invitational.
The Indians finished in 15th overall (325), with Ethan Hosein leading the way with a 78. Ty Lanham (81), Parker Mattoon (83) and Jordan Pickens (83) rounded out the top four for Venice.
This week, the Venice boys play in the Jenkins Invitational (Lakeland) on Monday morning before hosting Sarasota at Venetian Golf and River Club on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
VENICE CROSS COUNTRYBoth Venice cross country teams competed at the Lakewood Ranch Invitational last weekend, and once again, each team showed out with top five finishes.
The girls team won the entire event, finishing in first out of 25 teams (65, 22:05 split), beating out Riverview (88, 21:51 split) and Sarasota (147, 23:22 split).
Individually, Atarah Robinson picked up a fifth-place finish (20:53.95) to lead the Indians, while Jaime Sweiderk nabbed a top 10 finish as well, finishing in seventh (21:31.85).
Sierra Sieve (22:17.18) finished in 14th, Mia Myburgh (22:36.33) grabbed a 16th place finish and Breighla Potter rounded out the top five with a 23rd place nod (23:08.89).
The boys team finished in fifth overall (149, 18:47 split) behind the likes of Lakewood Ranch (70, 18:08 split), Riverview (92, 18:17 split), Seffner Christian (122, 18:32 split) and Out-of-Door Academy (130, 18:40 split).
Landen Wise picked up another top 10 finish, finishing in seventh place (17:42.67) for Venice. Chase Marshall was next for the Indians, finishing in 25th (18:44.04), while Gabe Harris (33rd, 18:56.11), Andrew Cernansky (39th, 19:11.80) and Josh Woody (45th, 19:22.39) made up the top five.
Following Saturday’s meet in Estero, both teams will compete at Venice High on Saturday, Sept. 14, starting at 7 a.m.
VENICE SWIMMINGBoth Venice swim teams finally get their respective seasons started this Wednesday against Lakewood Ranch and Manatee at the Lakewood Ranch YMCA. The meet is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m.
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