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Pirates Plunder Avon Park

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Avon Park's Brearnna Tate blasts a shot past Braden River's Allison Martin during Thursday's district match.

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: September 20, 2008

AVON PARK - Red Devil head volleyball coach Stephanie Devlin knows the performance gap between her Avon Park squad and the top-tier teams in Class 4A-District 10 is still wide, but that separation is narrowing with every game the Devils play.

"It's really difficult to defend against a big team when your tallest girl is 5-foot-8," Devlin said. "But I've seen major improvement from my girls, and the one thing I can say is that they don't quit."

The Red Devils looked overmatched against the experienced and much taller Pirates of Braden River, who swept Avon Park 25-8, 25-10, 25-15 in the district match-up on Thursday.

Braden River's Dani Villareal and Lauren Powell towered over Avon Park as they hit countless shots over the top of the Red Devil defense, as the Pirates stormed out to a 12-1 lead in the first game before encountering any opposition.

"We got off to a real shaky start," said AP senior Melissa Tullo. "We're still trying to get a lot of the new girls use to playing the game. Many times we had girls out of position and Braden River took advantage of that.

"We're getting a lot better, but it the game hasn't come natural to them yet."

Tullo, along with seniors Brearnna Tate and Daija Barrett, were the main weapons for the Red Devils at the net.

After dropping the first two games, Tate showed her value to her team by taking control at the net - blasting four of her eight kills in the third game - and diving for every loose ball to keep long rallies going and keeping the Red Devils to within striking distance down 15-12.

But the Pirates got back on track, using a 10-3 run to close the game out strong.

"Bre and Daija got a lot of tips tonight to catch Braden River off-guard," Devlin said. "But what we are not yet as a team is consistent. I watched us keep a long rally going and win a tough point but then we'd mess up on a free ball the very next play."

The AP head coach has identified the problem with her team's play as its struggle with serve-receive.

"We spent an entire practice working on nothing but serve-receive," Devlin said. "The biggest error that the girls are making is they're lunging for the ball on returns, and that forces the balls to sail over or into the net, making for an easy kill for our opponent.

"We've been going over the hop-step, which helps halt your momentum and get you in position to make a clean pass. It's just going to take time. We're still a young team and they've made good strides in improvement already."

Barrett, who finished with a team-high nine digs, six kills and three blocks, paired with Tullo on the left side that was able to negate some of the Pirates' power shots from their outside hitters.

Tullo knows her team can't do anything about the height differential, but with a little more practice and knowledge of the game, Avon Park should be a much-improved team the next time these teams meet in mid-October.

"When you're playing a bigger team like Braden River or DeSoto, you have to be in position for the returns," Tullo said. "We have to dig for every ball and pass away from their big defenders to get higher quality shots for us.

"It's going to finally click for this team sooner or later. We just have to keep working and set a good example for the younger girls in practice. The season's not over yet."

Avon Park is back in action on Monday when they travel to Frostproof.

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

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