Lady Streak sweep

By DAN HOEHNE

daniel.hoehne@newssun.com

SEBRING - Coming off an intensely well played loss to powerful Okeechobee last Thursday, Sebring head volleyball coach Venessa Sinness was interested to see how her team would come out against a Hardee squad that has struggled in recent years.

"I wanted to see us carry the intensity we played with against Okeechobee over to this match," she said. "We still are going through some early season jitters, but I'm liking what I'm seeing."

And while this might have been a match the team could have looked past, anticipating Tuesday's district match-up at Winter Haven, the Lady Wildcats gave the Streaks a quick wake up, taking a 7-4 lead in the opening game.

"They are definitely improving," Sinness said of Hardee. "Much like we're seeing Avon Park taking steps, this team is getting better and better."

Sebring answered back, reeling off three straight to tie it and then went on a 6-2 run to push their lead to 14-9.

But the scrappy 'Cats, showing some strong hitting, kept up the fight getting to within 15-13 before the Lady Streaks went on a 10-1 run to close it out.

Featured in the game-ending run were two Brittany Whittington aces, kills from Anna West and Stephanie Struck, an ace from Caitlyn Portis and a final-point scoring block from Struck.

West set the tone early in the second game, racking up two kills and a block to help Sebring out to a 9-3 lead.

A West ace, along with kills from Struck and Sydnee Connelly moved it to 13-5 and the Lady Streaks were off and running.

A Bianca Nortelus ace soon had Sebring up 22-10 and though the teams would split the next six scores, Struck again finished it off, this time with a kill, for the 25-13 win.

Kaley Walter got into the act in the third game, starting it off with a kill and serving up two aces during a run that turned a 5-4 deficit into a 10-5 lead.

Struck had two kills during the run with Whittington adding a kill and a block to swing the momentum Sebring's way.

A 5-2 run saw another Connelly kill with West walloping one and blocking another to make it 15-7 before Hardee inched back to within 17-10.

The Streaks then scored seven straight with Dino Lower and Whittington each tipping one over for a score, West adding another ace and Walter spiking one home to set the stage for the 25-11 win to complete the sweep.

"It's early and there's still a long way to got, things we need to work on," Sinness said. "For where we're at in the season, I have no complaints. I'm seeing progress in a lot of areas. Our setters (Lower and Portis) are getting their work in and gaining the game experience they need. Some of our newer hitters are being much more assertive with Steph (Struck), MeKenzie Hargaden and Sydnee (Connelly) really coming up with some big hits tonight.

"Tuesday is going to be a very tough match and we know we'll have to come out with all cylinders going to win," she continued, looking to the match against the Blue Devils at Winter Haven. "Our district is wide open. We could finish last in our district and we could finish first. It just depends on us coming out every night and playing. If we don't, with one or two matches lost, we could fall in the standings."

After their travel date to Winter Haven, the Lady Streaks come back home to host Lake Wales Thursday in another district contest.

See Friday's News-Sun for the Tuesday night result with the Lady Blue Devils.