TUESDAY
Volleyball
SARASOTA — The Venice High volleyball team doesn’t have the record it typically has, but that’s of no concern to the Indians.
Venice (8-9) has lost more matches than it has won, but it has been nearly flawless in district play.
The Indians secured possibly their most crucial win of the season on Tuesday night at Riverview High, downing the Rams in four sets (25-22, 25-16, 16-25, 25-8), which almost certainly locks in the No. 1 seed and home court advantage in the Class 7A District-12 tournament later this month.
“I don’t care about (the record) because it’s a long season,” Venice coach Jay Lanham said. “We’ve had some injuries. We lost a kid for a concussion for two and a half weeks. We lost a girl that tore her ACL. I mean, we’ve had some knee ailments, some back issues.”
Venice lost libero Madi Robinson to a concussion earlier this year and also lost outside hitter Caroline Day for the season to a torn ACL.
Those injuries came at a time when Venice was going through the meat of a challenging schedule, and the results showed as the Indians lost nine of 11 matches.
Matched up against Riverview in hostile territory, Venice showed its resilience from a trying season.
The Indians won a back-and-forth first set and pulled away in the second set to build a commanding two-sets-to-none lead.
Adversity hit in the third set when Venice couldn’t get out of its own way. Mishits and hits out of bounds, coupled with a run of kills and aces by the Rams, allowed Riverview to rally.
However, a 7-0 run to open the fourth set was too much for Riverview to overcome.
“You have to put your work in and you have to continue to fight because the world we live in sometimes doesn’t always go the way we want it to go,” Lanham said. “But we still have to keep fighting. So that’s the message that these guys, I think, are learning this year.”
While the fourth-set bounce back was encouraging for Lanham and the Indians, it was more meaningful than a moral victory.
Venice improved to 3-0 in district play with the win, including two wins against the Rams, which means it will likely be the top seed in the district.
Those stakes were something that both sides were aware of coming in.
“Tonight was probably the deciding match at who hosts districts,” Riverview coach Jason Mocherman said. “So, you know, we really wanted it because we’d love to host districts, but if we have to go down to Venice and play, we’ll go down to and play, and hopefully show up a little better than we did tonight.”
Venice was led by Tien Murray (11 kills), Jacey McReynolds (nine kills) and Melissa Apolonio (nine kills) on offense, and was led by Madi Robinson (14 digs), Apolonio (12 digs), McReynolds (11 digs) and Amelia Anselmi (10 digs) on defense.
Riverview was powered by Jadyn Brester (eight kills) in the loss.
The Class 7A District-12 tournament begins Oct. 13.
“If we’re healthy, maybe our record looks a little different, but at the same time, you have to go out there and compete and I’m going to put a tough schedule together to make my kids go out there and compete and learn how to deal with those moments,” Lanham said. “We responded after a tough moment there in set three and I was very proud of that tonight.”
Lakewood Ranch 3, Braden River 2: Lakewood Ranch defeated rival Braden River in five sets, 25-15, 24-26, 25-22, 18-25, 15-12, on Tuesday night at Lakewood Ranch High School. The Pirates were led by opposite hitter Chloe Pogoda (23 kills, 13 digs), middle hitter Molly Horalek (15 kills), outside hitter Ashlyn Henry (7 kills, 22 digs 4 aces) and setter Mia McGuire (51 assists, 9 digs) in the loss.
Girls golf
Lakewood Ranch 149, Riverview 161: The Mustangs had three players shoot sub-40 rounds to beat Riverview High on Tuesday at Royal Lakes Country Club. Sophomore Anne Yu led Lakewood Ranch with a 34. She was followed closely by senior Emily Storm (36), sophomore Wilda Kuang (38) and freshman Abrielle Ngo (41). Riverview senior Aida Benko earned medalist honors with a match-low round of 33.
Boys golf
Sarasota 142, Steinbrenner 163, Parrish 164: The Sarasota High boys golf team won a tri-match over Steinbrenner and Parrish Community on Tuesday at Heritage Harbor Golf and Country Club. Evan Booth (32) and Jake MacDonald (33) led the Sailors to victory, improving their record to 69-7 on the year.
SATURDAY
Girls cross country
Lakewood Ranch places second at Green Devil Invitational: The Mustangs girls cross country team set seven personal records on the way to a second-place finish at Crescent Lake Park in an event hosted by St. Petersburg High on Saturday, Sept. 27.
Junior Addison Shear led Lakewood Ranch by running the 5K course in 22:19. She took home a top 10 award by placing 6th overall. She was followed by junior Zoe Coppock in 11th place, junior Mackenzie Walker in 12th with a new PR of 23:58, junior Caroline Bartlomiejczuk in 13th place with a PR of 24:06, senior Gianna Weldon in 16th place, freshman Aveyah Dreyer in 20th place with a new PR of 25:19 and sophomore Caitlin Motherway in 22nd place with a new PR of 25:41.
Girls golf
Northside Christian 327, ODA 328: The Out-of-Door Academy girls golf team lost to Northside Christian by one stroke in an 18-hole match on Saturday, Sept. 27 at Lakewood National Golf Club. Northside Christian’s Hana Blinn earned medalist honors with an even par score of 72. ODA’s Brooklyn Cullen finished runner-up with a two-over par 74.
Boys golf
SFPGA West Coast High School Invitational: The Sarasota High boys golf team finished in second place at a 36-hole event on Saturday, Sept. 27 at Twin Eagles Country Club. The Sailors (581) were four strokes behind Benjamin High School (577). Sarasota was led by Evan Booth, who finished 3rd overall with a 139 total, followed by Noah Brum, who placed 7th with a score of 141 and Jacob Menard and Jake MacDonald, who tied for a 9th place finish with 144.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: High school sports roundup for week of Sept. 29 through Oct. 4
Reporting by Vinnie Portell, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
