Lady Horns volleyball over

Home

Volleyball

Other Sun Publications

FREE DELIVERY!
Get Free Delivery! Request your Osceola News Gazette Today.

Login Form

2013 Osceola Health

2013 Sexual Predator Sexual Offender List sexualpredatorcover13

Windows on the Classroom March 2013

School Calendar
2012-2013

View our other Special Sections

Lady Horns volleyball over

Sports

Friday, 09 November 2012 16:51

By Rick Pedone
Sports Editor
The problem Harmony faced in its 3A-2 regional semifinal volleyball match against Lake Minneola Tuesday was that while it could go toe-to-toe with the Hawks, it couldn’t go head-to-head against its much-taller opponents.
Lake Minneola got crushing kill shots from Genel Sturgeon, Jenna Sturgeon, Alex Mendoza, Ally Lunsford and Brianna Lemon to hold off the determined Lady Longhorns, 25-22, 25-18, 25-23.
Harmony, 19-9, was within striking distance of the Hawks in all three games and led the third game, 23-22, before Lake Minneola, 24-4, won the match on a service ace from Lunsford.
Almost all of the girls on the Hawks front line were well over 6 feet tall, while Harmony had no one who could match that altitude.
“We knew it was going to be a tough match,” Harmony Coach Eric Trowbridge said. “Several of their starters play on our club team (Team Select). I’ve coached them and I know how talented they are. We just can’t match their height.”
Thanks to exceptional play from hitters Chaney Howard and Kendall Pollock, the Horns stayed close. Setter Genesis Viera, in her final game in a Longhorns uniform, made several spectacular digs in addition to accurately setting the ball from all around the court.
Like her coach, Viera, who had 58 kills, 440 assists and 111 digs during a season shortened by seven games because of a wrist injury, expected a big challenge from Lake Minneola, the 7A-5 district champion.
“We felt like we had control at some point,” she said. “Our plan was to tip it over their blocks. We did that a little, but not often enough.”
Trowbridge said his team, normally fundamentally excellent, made an unusual number of mistakes.
“It was a little disappointing because we didn’t execute the way I expected that we would, the way we normally do,” Trowbridge said. “We didn’t go as far as we did last year, but our team always plays hard and we had a successful season. We won the district for the fourth year in a row and the conference championship again. You never worry about the effort you get from this group. It’s always there, in practice or at the games.”
Harmony reached the Class 7A state tournament last season.
Many of the Lady Longhorns’ starters will return. Howard, the team’s kills (185, plus 205 digs, 59 aces and 245 blocks) leader this season, and Alexis Trowbridge, one of the team’s best servers, are sophomores.
Adalyn Gaston and Dakota Flynn will return as setters, and hitters Sam Pearo, Kristen Leonard and Alora Justesen all are sophomores.
The team loses, in addition to Viera and Pollock, Allison VanTassel, Kaitlyn Spicer, Aubrey Runnels and Adrienne Roberts.
Viera, who also had 51 aces and 30 blocks, will sign a volleyball scholarship to the University of Tulsa in January.
“You don’t replace Genesis, but I have all the faith in the world in our two young setters that they will do a great job for us,” Trowbridge said.
The Lady Longhorns will find plenty of competition from both within and outside their district next season.
St. Cloud split regular season matches against Harmony and returns several starters.
Osceola was the district runner-up to Lake Minneola and has a solid nucleus of underclassmen.
And, Lake Minneola returns its entire roster except for two seniors.