Comeback for SCF VB Falls Short Over PHSC

In their home opener, the SCF volleyball team (0-4) made a big comeback attempt in the fourth set, but were unable to continue as they fell 3-1 (23-25, 18-25, 25-22, 20-25) to Pasco-Hernando State (2-3). With the loss, the Manatees are now 4-8 against the Bobcats.

"I feel we did a great job on serve/receive passing and defense, but the issue was we did not execute offensively tonight," said head coach Angela Byrd. "We gave up too many points and it was nothing the other team did. I feel like it was us making the mistakes, so I feel we costed ourselves the points."

"We missed 13 serves, which one missed serve is a two point turnaround easily, and I just feel like we did not execute offensively. We passed over 2.0 very well as well from defensive standpoint. The defense got the balls up, but we didn't put it away enough."

Offensively, it was Lakeesha Esseboom who lead the team with 10 kills and a block while Daviya "Day" Bernard added six kills.

"Keesha got hot throughout the match," said Byrd on Esseboom. "We told her 'you just got to get a hold of one ball and once you do, your game will go up. There were times I felt she brought us back in the third set, mainly when she had three kills in a row. Freshman Gracee Carpino had 26 assists as well as three aces.

Sophomore Barbora Tichackova returned to the lineup after missing the Santa Fe/USA Classic due to an injury. Tichackova finished with six kills, five blocks (two solo) and two aces.

"Barbora did a good job moving the ball around and made some smart plays when it came to her onto to tip to the back corner," said Byrd on Tichackova.

Defensively, three players finished with double digit digs, sophomores Sydney Jaco and Hannah Strickland and freshman Brooke Henry. Jaco finished with 23 digs and three assists while Strickland and Henry had 11 digs each. Strickland added two assists of her own.

"Sydney and Brooke did a really good job on defense," said Byrd on Jaco and Henry. "Having them in the back row together pretty much heightens our defense and our chances to score again. They were the ones that passed a majority of the balls."

In fact, Jaco's 23 digs put her at 881 digs in her career. The product of Braden River has already set milestones at 800 and 850 and is 119 away from reaching 1,000 career digs.

Freshmen Brooke Sereda and Mary Lowe led the Bobcats with a double-double each. Sereda had 14 kills and 10 digs while Lowe 26 assists and 12 digs along with six aces. Sophomore Linsey Christianson had 23 digs and five assists.

Scores in the Suncoast:
Hillsborough (9-0) competed in the Pensacola Tournament where they shutout host Pensacola State College, Gadsden State Community College, Snead State Community College, Lee College, and Coastal Alabama - East. They will be hosting two matches against Pasco-Hernando State and Santa Fe.

St. Pete College (1-0) defeated CCF in their season opener by a score of 3-1. They will be competing in the Patriots Invitational hosted by CCF and face Palm Beach State College, Broward College, Odessa College and Florida State College at Jacksonville.

Florida Southwestern (FSW) (2-2) will be competing in the Polk Invitational against host #7 Polk State and Daytona State.

Up Next:
The Manatees will travel to Ocala for the two-day Patriots Invitational, hosted by College of Central Florida (CCF) (4-1). The Manatees will play Spartanburg Methodist (1-3), Odessa College (5-0), Florida State College at Jacksonville (1-3) and host CCF.

"You can expect high offensive power from all the teams," said Byrd on the tournament. "Which is normally our offensive power, which were ok with because we have a solid defense. Having that high offensive power, we just have to find a way again to execute offensively. Once this team starts to execute offensively, we'll be awesome. Right now we're a good team, we can be a great team once we put all the pieces together. We still got to get a couple more pieces put together and when the offensive execution comes, we'll be a force to be reckoned with."

*Side note: This was the first post-game recap with coach Byrd.