Lakers Hold Off Panthers

The South Florida Community College volleyball team rallied from two games down on Friday, but playing six girls in five games finally caught up to the Panthers, who fell to Lake Sumter CC 25-14, 25-19, 23-25, 22-25, 16-14 at Panther Gym.

"It was the most heart I've seen my girls play with all year," said SFCC coach Kim Crawford. "We lost, but I was so proud of them."

Avon Park's own Kysi Wooden led the way for the Panthers (1-10, 0-4 Suncoast Conference) in a performance Crawford called "incredible."

"Everytime we gave her the ball, she put it away," Crawford said. "Even when we played her on back row and defense, she dug balls, was one of our primary passers, and was just a blocking animal."

Sophomore Sheeva Noshirvan also had a standout game for SFCC, which after struggling to find an identity in the first two games, stepped up its passing in the third and fourth sets.

"Whenever we're able to pass inside the 10-foot line, we have a better shot at running the offense," Crawford said. "We're not a very good out-of-sequence volleyball ball tam, so if we don't get that first pass, the odds are stacked against us.

"It was the first time those six has played together continuously, but once they got warmed up they played hard and came together."

The Panthers are back in action on Tuesday when they return to conference action at St. Petersburg College. They return home on Sept. 27 when they host Warner Southern's JV squad.