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News-Sun photo by DAN HOEHNE Hannah Shoop gets a big block, one of many key defensive plays in Sebrings 3-1 match-win over visiting Braden River Tuesday night.

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published: Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Streaks topple Braden River

By DAN HOEHNE

daniel.hoehne@newssun.com

SEBRING - Unbeknownst to the Lady Blue Streaks, Avon Park was pulling off an upset of Palmetto just up the road.

But Sebring had their own score to settle and district standings to secure.

Having lost to Palmetto last week, the Streaks were in danger of falling to fourth in the district, meaning a match-up with DeSoto in the district tournament.

But a four-set match-win over second-place Braden River atoned for an earlier loss in Bradenton and put the team solidly in third.

"This was the biggest win of the year for us," head coach Venessa Sinness said. "We got down early but the girls really came together. Our defense and serve receive were what won this for us."

Each of the first two sets saw Sebring facing early deficits, as much as 5-2 in the first and 6-0 in the second.

But each time, the Lady Streaks came back, tying it at 8-8 in the first on an Abigail Bone kill and expanding their lead on Hannah Shoop's kill, block and tip for points.

Brit Augustine then helped push the lead to 21-12 with a deft tip to the hole in the middle of the Pirate defense.

Braden River stormed back with nine of the next 10 points to close to within 22-21, but at game point, a Molly Blackman kill bounced off the net and dribbled over onto the Pirate side for the set winner.

The 6-0 deficit in the second game was a bit tougher to overcome, but the Streaks did just that, evening things at 14-14.

But the Pirates had a couple runs left in them to put it away and even the match, 25-20.

That just set the stage, however, for the epic sets that would follow.

The third set was a back-and-forth battle that saw both teams capture leads, but not able to extend them past two points.

With things even at 18, Karley Freeland's kill got the edge back for the Streaks and Kayla Clemmen's nifty dig maneuver caught the Pirates off guard to extend the lead.

From there, two Blackman kills finished it off for the 25-21 win.

The fourth set played out much the same, with Sebring looking to finish it early and Braden River fighting to extend it to a fifth.

The see-saw battle saw early ties and small leads for the Pirates, but a run pushed it to 12-7 for the visitors.

The Streaks, though, continued the script that had been set in working their way back, evening things at 15-15 and pushing the lead out from there.

With the lead at 21-17, Braden River showed it still had some fight, closing to 22-21 and again at 23-22, but a Freeland tip got them to game point and the 25-22 win was soon complete.

"Everyone just got together and we were really backing each other up," Blackman said afterward.

A sentiment shared by Ricki Albritton.

"We knew we had to make up for a bad game against Palmetto and we came into this with our hearts in it," she said. "We came together and got a win that won't last forever but it put us into districts."

Where they will likely see a rematch with the Lady Pirates, in Bradenton, but now with the knowledge and confidence that, in working together as they did this night, anything can happen.