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Highlands Today

All Set For Primetime

Highlands Today file photo by Brian Gjurgevich

Sebring's Molly Blackman left, Brit Augustine center and Hannah Shoop lead the Sebring volleyball team into the Class 4A-District 10 tournament this week at Braden River High School.

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By BRIAN GJURGEVICH

Highlands Today

Published: October 27, 2008

It's what brought them to the gym for summer conditioning, running wind-sprints and keeping summer weight-room hours normally logged by football players.

It's what had them up before daybreak, jogging "the town loop" while the Circle's streetlights were still on, even if it was the morning after a match.

For the Sebring volleyball team, its time has come.

"Where do you want to be at the end of the year?" asks head coach Venessa Sinness as if she already knows the answer. "That's been the goal since the beginning of the year and all through the summer.

"Without a goal, there's nothing."

When Sebring opens the Class 4A-District 10 volleyball tournament at 7 p.m. tonight in Bradenton, that preparation will be put to the test when the second-seeded Streaks open up with No. 7 seed Booker.

With extra conditioning a year-long focus, the Streaks have honed both their mental and physical approaches throughout the season, with Sinness merely seeking improvement - win or lose - every match.

The benefits have shone brightest in the games of senior Hannah Shoop ("She's just outstanding," says Sinness) and juniors Brit Augustine and Karley Freeland, who anchor a powerful front line that could propel the Streaks into the regional tournament.

"The firepower we have is kind of nice," Sinness said, noting the team's serve-receive, as always, will play a vital role in its success. "We want to play side-out volleyball. We don't want anyone serving two-three-four times in a row.

"Strong serve-receive helps eliminate that, and we've prided ourselves doing that."

Sebring's forceful style starts with its serves and runs on the ability of the Streaks to dig hits and set up their offense, something Sinness said the team has improved on all season.

"We're consistently aggressive on serves and we can't stop doing that," Sinness said. "If a team attacks us, we have to be able dig it up and run our attack on them.

"It's concrete in what we do and something we have to do right all the time."

Sebring secured the No. 2 seed in today's Class 4A-District 10 tournament via coin-flip, knocking tournament host Braden River to the No. 3 seed. If the Streaks should get past a Booker team they swept twice during the regular season, they'd face the winner of Braden River and Hardee, but Sinness said the Streaks have learned their lesson about looking too far ahead.

"We had this issue last year, where we were so gung-ho about DeSoto that we overlooked Braden River," she said. "I think all the girls know that and we've said we'll take it one game at a time.

"We have a lot of veteran players going in and we know what we have to do to get the job done."

4A-D10 Volleyball

Sebring vs. Booker

TONIGHT at 7 p.m.

Brian Gjurgevich can be reached at 863-386-5841 or bgjurgevich@highlandstoday.com.

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