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Brahmans Blast Past Streaks

Chris Hoffman/Highlands Today

Sebring's Brit Augustine (2) and Molly Blackman go up for the block against Okeechobee's Rebecca Bryan during Monday's match.

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By CHRIS HOFFMAN

Highlands Today

Published: September 24, 2008

SEBRING - Venessa Sinness couldn't believe what she was seeing during the Sebring volleyball team's third game against Okeechobee on Monday.

"The last thing I wanted to see out of this team is that they quit," Sinness said. "After all we went through in the tournament over the weekend and how hard we fought, we came out tonight and didn't play with the same intensity."

Sebring, which placed second at the Bartow Invitational behind Class-6A Osceola over the weekend, were plainly mismatched against a powerful Okeechobee team that swept the Streaks 25-21, 25-18 and 25-13 and showed Sinness what her team need to work on as the regular season hits full swing.

"I'm finding out that mental toughness can only get you so far," the SHS coach said. "It was like a domino effect tonight. One thing went wrong which led to another and we didn't have anybody step up to push the dominoes the other way.

"Okeechobee is a really good team with a tall front line, but we were in the first two games. They just took advantage of every mismatch on the court, especially on the right side."

The right side is where Okeechobee's Monica Koger and Rebecca Bryan fired shot after shot over the top of the Blue Streak defense.

But it was Sebring's mental attitude - altered by a pair of late game collapses - that was the turning point of the match.

The Streaks scored six unanswered points in game 3 to take an 8-5 lead and were getting good net play from Abigail Bone, who had two kills during the run, but Sebring couldn't hold off the seasoned Brahmans, who regained the lead for good by scoring six consecutive points.

"There is nothing more satisfying in volleyball than coming back from being two games down and winning the match," Sinness said. "I tried to get my girls to understand that we weren't out of it."

The Streaks didn't respond to their coaches' instructions, as they put on a lackluster performance down the stretch, scoring consecutive points just once the rest of the way, as Okeechobee bullied Sebring at the net for the win.

Blackman was less-than-thrilled at her team's performance after the game, as she tried to come to grips at what she just witnessed.

"We didn't play with any heart tonight," Blackman said. "We just gave up in that third game, and that is really frustrating from a team standpoint.

"This was not the team that played in the tournament over the weekend. That team never game up. We were definitely more focused than we were tonight. We could've done so much better."

Senior's Molly Blackman and Hannah Shoop kept the Blue Streaks in the opening game with their impressive play.

Blackman's instincts at the net helped her collect six blocks in the first game and keep get the Streaks to within one (16-15), while Shoop became a factor in the back row where she had 10 of her 14 digs in the first game and helped negate the power shots from Okeechobee's hitters.

But the Brahmans were able to fire off points in quick succession and used a five-point run to put just enough of a gap to take the first game by four.

Game 2 was a see-saw affair, with both teams blasting shots and forcing their opponent out of position for easy points. Blackman had two kills to again keep the game close, but the Blue Streaks failed to regain control of the match late and watched the Brahman's end the game on a 6-1 run that would prove to be the back-breaker for the Streaks.

"We pride ourselves on being able to not allow an opposing team to get more than two points on us while serving," Sinness said. "Tonight, Okeechobee was able to rattle off long runs against us and we couldn't do enough to get the ball back."

Looking at the positive, Blackman did say this loss could go a long way in the Streaks' goal of winning a district title.

"It's good to play teams that challenge us," Blackman said. "This game showed us what we're lacking mentally and exposed a lot of our weaknesses that we'll work on in practice to improve on.

"This was a really good learning experience for us."

The Streaks are back in action at 7:30 p.m. Thursday when they host arch-rival Avon Park.

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

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