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St. Pete Ends SFCC's Volleyball Playoff Hopes

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Panther sophomore Michele Remlinger (11) is set for the block against St. Pete's Heloisa Jaquim dos Santos during Thursday's match.

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By Christopher  Hoffman | Highlands Today

Published: October 13, 2007

AVON PARK — "Everyone showed up but our girls."
Those words leapt from a dejected Kim Crawford, who watched helplessly as her South Florida Community College volleyball team squandered its first chance at the playoffs since 1999, falling to St. Petersburg College in a three-set sweep (30-28, 30-24, 30-20) on Thursday.

"I'm super disappointed in the way we played, or didn't play," Crawford said. "There was a buzz around campus for the first time. People painted their cars and we had the fans painted in the stands to cheer us on.
"We had the perfect setting. If we win, we're in, and it was on our home floor with our home crowd. Everyone showed up except our girls."

The disappointment could be seen etched on the faces of the players, especially the sophomores who had one final opportunity to taste the playoffs.

"We came out with such an adrenaline rush and I thought our defense was playing well," said Panther sophomore Mallory Strall. "But they kept hitting over our blocks and we couldn't make the adjustments we needed to make.
"It is really disappointing since we worked really hard to be in this position."

The table was set for a Panther celebration, and early on, SFCC was tearing into the Titans front line.
Sophomore Michele Remlinger had three kills and St. Pete was out of sync, with numerous balls into the net, as the Panthers took an early 7-1 lead, before the Titans rallied to tie the match at 12.

The match turned into a game of see-saw, with the momentum swinging from one team to another, with SFCC holding a slim 21-20 lead.
That is when the tides turned.

The Titans got on a roll, scoring six unanswered points, but Remlinger became a one-woman wrecking crew, hitting three kills and two blocks to keep the Panthers within striking distance. But St. Pete freshman Zuzana Cizova — from the Czech Republic — had two game-ending kills from the outside to quiet the crowd.

"It was a hard fought match, much like I anticipated," said St. Pete head coach Scott White. "It took our hitters awhile to get going and we managed to come back in that first game to win and I think that set the tone. It really gave us confidence."

From that point on, the Panthers were in the second game early on, but stalled at the end. Leading 19-18, the Titans played with more passion and desire than the home team. 6-foot-3 sophomore Heloisa Jaquim dos Santos of Brazil controlled the middle, while Cizova, nicknamed "Zeus," blasted unhittable shots past the SFCC blockers.

Cizova finished with a game-high 23 kills and three solo blocks, while dos Santos had 10 kills and five solo blocks in the match.
"You can't give her [Cizova] the outside line," White said. "If you do, she'll nail it every time and it doesn't matter how man diggers you have."

The writing was clearly on the wall for the start of the third game. With their playoff hopes hanging in the balance, the Panthers were unable to make the necessary adjustments to negate Cizova's powerful shot, and the Titans streaked out to a 10-5 lead. SFCC would get no closer, as the playoffs were washed away like the paint on the faithful fans.

The statistic of the game was in the kill department, with the Panthers converting 31 of 144 kill attempts, with Remlinger leading the way with 12 kills, seven solo blocks, while Strall had 35 digs against the Titans.

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