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Avon Park, Lake Placid Tune Up For Tourney Time

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Lake Placid's Julie Shrewsberry tires to tip the ball past Avon Park's Daija Barrett during Thursday's regular season finale.

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: October 25, 2008

LAKE PLACID - Senior night is always a bittersweet moment in any athlete's playing career, and the emotions ran high as the Lake Placid volleyball team honored six of their seniors before taking the court against cross-county rival Avon Park on Thursday.

For Green Dragon junior Sierra Weaver, it was about saying goodbye to a "big sister."

"When I was a freshman, Ali Baker was chosen to be my big sister and we've become really close while playing different sports together," Weaver said. "It was really hard to see her play in her last regular season game here. When you're a freshman, you never think about how it's going to end."

Baker and the rest of the seniors went out with a moniker of glory, as they fought hard to defeat Class 4A rival Avon Park 25-18, 21-25, 25-12 and 25-22 in front of a raucous crowd on Thursday.

The match was the regular season finale for both teams, as both ready for district tournament play, which begins next week.

The tension wasn't as high as it would've been for a match against Sebring, but the rivalry was still intense, as both teams traded long rallies and hard shots. But in the end, it was Lake Placid who looked more in sync heading into tournament play.

"Avon Park gave us all we could handle tonight and all the seniors had the chance to play in their last regular season game," said LP head coach Marilyn Jones. "I am proud of all my players, but especially proud of senior Jessica Wantuck. It was her serving that brought us back in the fourth game."

Wantuck served three straight aces in a nine-point service that got Lake Placid going offensively and helped them take a 12-7 lead in the fourth game and they never trailed en route to a three-point win.

The Green Dragons served up 17 aces against the Red Devils, who played hard and took game two on the strength of Danielle Thompson's serving ability, which generated four straight aces and forced a Lake Placid timeout with AP taking a two-point lead.

"Danielle really gave us trouble tonight," Jones said. "Her diving serve with top spin was hard for us to get under and she was able to get some easy points with it."

Avon Park streaked out to a 17-10 lead in that second game, but had to hold on for a four-point win, as Lake Placid's net defense forced numerous Red Devil turnovers that pleased the Green Dragon student spirit section.

The noise from the fans became a constant distraction for the Red Devils.

"I think we were frustrated at points in the match," said Avon Park head coach Stephanie Devlin. "It was hard for us to communicate because of the noise, but we still came and played our hearts out and I am proud that we were better than we were last time against them."

The Green Dragons swept the Red Devils in their previous meeting, but Avon Park has improved its overall play and are led by seniors Daija Barrett, Brearnna Tate and Melissa Tullo, who have set the tone for the season and are ready to take a giant leap in the tournament.

"We're a totally different team than we were at the beginning of the season," Tullo said. "We have a sense of where we need to be and our strategy on the court that really wasn't there in the beginning.

"We're really a confident team and we're going into the tournament to win."

Avon Park opens the Class 4A-District 10 tournament on Tuesday when they face Palmetto, a team the Devils beat soundly in their last meeting.

"We're going in with the advantage in that we're a team they can't underestimate," Devlin said. "But we need to play better than we did tonight or it'll be a short tournament.

"This team isn't going there to just make a good showing, but to win. I believe we have the confidence and the talent to make a good run. I've booked our buses all week as a sign of how much I believe in this team."

Lake Placid opens the Class 3A-District 10 tournament on Tuesday as well at Mulberry and senior Julie Shrewsbury is ready to make it 4-for-4 in tournament championship matches in her career.

"I am ready to play whoever comes our way," Shrewsbury said. "Right now, I'm fueled with the motivation of wanting to play at least one more game in this gym. I don't want this to be the last time our fans get to see us play this year and we've got to bring home the tournament title for that to happen."

Chris Hoffman can be reached at 863-386-5827 or choffman@highlandstoday.com

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