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Highlands Today

Tigers Tear Up Red Devils

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Highlands Today Staff Report

Published: September 13, 2008

PALMETTO - The Avon Park volleyball team had an off night on the road Thursday, as Palmetto took advantage of poor serve-receive by the Red Devils en route to a 25-16, 25-11, 25-13 sweep in district action.

"They had a lot of off-speed, short or floaters," said Avon Park coach Stephanie Devlin. "We're used to getting it slammed at us, so they caught us off-guard."

Brearrna Tate had four kills and Danielle Tomlinson had four aces to lead AP, but Devlin said her entire team just didn't come ready to play on the road.

"We're all entitled to a bad game," she said. "We just did it all at once.

"We weren't alive at the net tonight and we slammed a lot right into them."

The Devils will look to rebound on Tuesday, when they travel to district power DeSoto. Devlin said her team isn't intimidated by the Bulldogs' big hitters, and that they're looking forward to the challenge.

"We're pretty good at digging hard hits," Devlin said. "We don't have a lot of height at the net for blocking, so we have to work on serve-receive.

"I'm really going to focus on getting them off their heels and on their toes.'

BOYS GOLF: Hardee Edges Avon Park WAUCHULA - Hardee senior Ben Krause shot a 35, which included four birdies, to lead the Wildcat boys golf team to a win over Avon Park at wind-swept Torrey Oaks golf course on Thursday.
Hardee shot a four-person team score of 162, while the Red Devils totaled 178.

Wildcat senior Jake Crews had a 41, sophomore Taylor Barlow came in with a 42 and freshman Daniel Miller rounded out the scoring with a 44.

The win improved Hardee to 3-2 on the season.

"That's the best we've played this season," said veteran Wildcat coach George Heine. "The wind was blowing pretty hard and to shoot that score is pretty impressive because Torrey Oaks is a tight course that can bite you quick."

Sophomore Greg Gentry led the Red Devils with a 38, while Clay Davis shot a 44 and Austin Smith came in with a 50.

"We really struggled with the wind," said Avon Park coach Bobby Barben. "We had numerous penalty strokes because Torrey Oaks is a tight course and we couldn't keep the ball in play.

"We've just got to keep focused no matter what the conditions are and learn to make the best of each round."

Both squads are back in action in the Crutchfield/Hawkins Invitational on Monday at Sun 'N Lake Country Club.

SWIMMING: Lake Placid Sweeps Okeechobee

OKEECHOBEE - The Lake Placid swim team enjoyed victories on both the boys and girls side on Thursday at Okeechobee, as the Green Dragon girls defeated the Brahmans 91-79, while the Dragon boys rolled over the Brahmans 110-43.

"Lake Placid, being such a young team, showed they're up to the task of continuing a strong tradition of team spirit and dominating performance in any waters," said LP coach Tom Creel. "I could not be more proud of the way the team and coaching staff is developing. Our techniques and skills are improving and as our conditioning improves, our times are going down.

"Our team spirit, unity and sportsmanship are the core strengths of Lake Placid swimming and that's what will keep us on a successful season."

The Dragons will be in the pool again on Sept. 25, when they travel to Avon Park to take on AP and Frostproof.

The Highlands Today sports department can be reached at 863-386-5841 or sports@highlandstoday.com.

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