Streaks Dispatch Determined Devils

Teams are never the same the second time around, and on Thursday the Sebring volleyball team found out that their arch-rivals have taken a quantum leap since their first meeting.

The Red Devils played smart, heads-up volleyball and caught the mighty Blue Streaks a bit off-guard with their improved play, but Sebring leaned on its experience in a 25-15, 25-20, 21-17 victory in the Class 4A-District 10 showdown at Sebring High School.

"Avon Park has improved a lot since the first time we faced them," said Sebring's Brit Augustin. "It's always fun playing your rivals, and I think they surprised us by their hustle tonight."

A coach is normally not all smiles after a loss, but Avon Park head coach Stephanie Devlin beamed with pride when she talked about her team after the match.

"I'm so proud of these girls," Devlin said. "When these girls want to play they can play with almost anyone.

"Yes, I would've liked to have won, but what is most important to me is that win or lose, we played as team."

Red Devil senior Melissa Tullo said that the team had knots in their stomachs during school in anticipation of playing the Streaks.

"We couldn't wait to play Sebring tonight," Tullo said. "This is the best I've seen us play all season. We came out and played hard and never gave up. We know we've got some work to do to get past them and I hope we get to see them in the district playoffs.

"I think we'll be an even better team than we are now."

Hustle and accountability were the attributes that Avon Park showed for their coach, as the Red Devil players were all over the court digging out every ball they could and setting up their front-row hitters for high-percentage shots against a much taller Sebring front row.

"We had much better coverage tonight and we got our hands on a lot of balls at the net," Devlin said. "I think they finally started believing in themselves and you could see the confidence in them build, especially in that second game."

The Streaks owned the Red Devils after two matches earlier in the season, defeating their arch-rivals 25-15, 25-10, 25-12 in the preseason classic and 25-18, 25-15, 25-12 in the season opener, but Sebring head coach Venessa Sinness knows that teams are always tougher later in the season.

"Every team is supposed to improve as they go through the season," Sinness said. "I hope we're not the same team when we face teams like Braden River and DeSoto.

"But I have to give Avon Park credit. They showed me that they came to play and they made us work."

The match against the Red Devils ends a grueling stretch that saw the Streaks play six-games in five days. Sinness believes they came out a better team than they were before this part of the schedule.

"The girls are totally exhausted, but they accomplished their goals that we had set for them," Sinness said. "We placed second in the Bartow Invitational and beat our district and cross-county rivals.

"This team's confidence level is at an all-time high."

Both teams played to a stand-still in the opening moments of the match, with the score tied at nine, but Sebring put together a 14-3 run before winning by 10 points, making it look as though the Streaks were in for a quick night.

But Avon Park rallied around Devlin, who could be heard in the huddle giving instructions.

"You're a better team than what I'm seeing on the court," Devlin said.

That spark carried over into the second game, which saw the Red Devils jump out to a 7- 2 lead that was capped off by a block by senior Brearnna Tate, who was visibly hobbled and in pain.

Long scoreless runs this season have been the downfall for the Red Devils, who watched the Streaks rattled off 11 straight points on great serving by Kayla Clemens, who had three aces while Anna West racked three blocks and a kill during the scoring streak.

"The difference in the match was we let them put points up in bunches on us," Devlin said. "Sebring was serving really well during that stretch and we found ourselves out of position numerous times that allowed them to get easy points."

Long runs were not the sole domain of the home team, as Avon Park pounded out six unanswered points during an 11-2 run to take an 18-15 lead that was the product of top server Danielle Tomlinson, whose deliveries dropped like a lead weight after sailing over the net.

But in a game of momentum shifts, Sebring found the pendulum on their side at games' end, as they closed it out with a 9-2 run to eek out the win.

With Tate leaving with an injury early in the third game, Avon Park didn't have the physical presence in the front and missed the Red Devil senior's blocking and shot-altering ability in the front row.

Tate played most of the match with an injured hip she suffered in the game against Booker on Tuesday.

"It isn't about just one player, but we definitely missed Bre out on the court," said AP senior Daija Barrett. "She gives you so much when she's out there in terms of presence at the net and also her hustle.

"We were definitely a different team without her."

Avon Park kept the third game close early, but Sebring's energy was almost limitless, and the Streaks closed the game out on a 5-0 run on back-to-back kills by Karley Freeland.

But in the end, there were smiles on both sides of the court.

"We showed that we can play with Sebring," Barrett said. "We played with energy tonight and hustled our butts off. This is always a big game for us and I think we surprised Sebring at how much we've matured as players and as a team.

"This is something we can build on."