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Defense Key in Blue Streak Volleyball Win

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Sebring freshman Anna West sparked the Blue Streak defense, with three blocks and four kills during Tuesday's match against Palmetto.

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By Christopher  Hoffman | Highlands Today

Published: September 20, 2007

SEBRING — Back on track?

The Sebring Blue Streak girls volleyball team has hit its fair share of speed bumps recently on the road to becoming a championship caliber team.

After losing to cross-county rival Lake Placid in front of their home crowd and being bounced by Class 4A-District 10 rival DeSoto, the Blue Streaks had no place to go but up and they used the Palmetto Tigers as a launching pad.

Sebring's Hannah Shoop had eight kills and Ashley Waldron finished with 24 assists, but it was the Blue Streak defense that provided the punch in taming the Tigers in four games on Tuesday.

"We didn't let down which is what I wanted to see," Sebring head coach Venessa Sinness said. "The problem is that we win the first game and can't sustain the same intensity and drop the second game.
"This team can't continue to play like that and expect to succeed come tournament time."

With the win, Sebring improves to 8-4 overall and 5-1 in the district, while Palmetto drops to 3-4 on the season.

Sebring's confidence was evident after game one turned out to be a cake walk, finishing the Tigers with a 13-5 run to win 25-13.

That confidence proved to be a double-edged sword for Sinness and the Blue Streaks, as the youthful Tigers took advantage of countless mental lapses by Sebring, scoring points in bunches. With a 16-15 lead, Palmetto got on the shoulders of Jauma Buckner, who blasted a pair of aces and was tough at the net to lead the Tigers to a 25-17 win.

A very disgusted Sinness riddled her team with talk of unity until the buzzer sounded for play to continue.

"I am still trying to get this team to play as one unit," the Sebring skipper said. "They try to do too much as individuals. We lacked communication in the second game and it showed in our play."

The message was clear and understood by the Blue Streaks, storming to a 25-15 win in game three on the strength of the collective defense of Shoop, Blackman and freshman Anna West, who was called up from junior varsity after an injury to Aspen Kuhn.

Palmetto kept the game close and were down just five points early in game four, but the unity which Sinness has been preaching all season, seemed to make an appearance. The Blue Streaks exploded for a 13-3 run to close out the match, including nine unanswered points.

Blackman had two blocks and two kills, while Ricki Albritton pitched in with three aces during the game-ending run.

"We are a team that has the potential to beat DeSoto, but also lose to every team in the district," Sinness said. "We are playing a lot better, but we have to play as a team in every game."

Only time will tell if the Blue Streaks are back on track or not.

Sebring is back on the court today, when they travel to face Braden River at 7 p.m.

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