SCF VB Readies for Second Tournament

After a heart-breaking loss in their home opener, the SCF volleyball team (0-4) return to neutral grounds as they compete in the Patriots Invitational at the Patriot Gym in Ocala. The Manatees will take on Spartanburg Methodist (1-3) at 1 pm and Odessa College (5-0) at 3 pm on Friday, August 30 before facing host College of Central Florida (CCF) (4-1) at 1 pm and Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) (1-2) at 5 pm on Saturday, August 31.

Last Time Out:
The Manatees played in their home opener against Pasco-Hernando State where they fell by a score of 3-1. The team is hopefully looking for their first win at the tournament.

Sophomore Lakeesha Esseboom leads the team with 34 kills and nine blocks. Esseboom finished with 10 kills and a block in the match against Pasco-Hernando.

Trailing Esseboom offensively is freshman Leilani Wilcox-Nanai. the native of Christchurch, New Zealand has 21 kills and 40 digs in her name as well as four aces. In her match against Pasco-Hernando, Wilcox-Nanai finished with five kills.

Other players in double digit kills include sophomore Daviya Bernard (18) and freshmen Jazmin Spencer (16) and Bailey Sikkema (14). Bernard is also second on the team in blocks (8).

Freshman Gracee Carpino leads the team with 101 assists and six aces. The setter from Wellington, Florida finished the match against PHSC with 26 assists and three aces.

Defensively, aside from Esseboom and Bernard's total blocks and Wilcox-Nanai's digs, sophomore Hannah Strickland and freshman Brooke Henry continue to play big roles as defensive specialists. Strickland has 31 digs and three aces while Henry has 40 digs and two aces.

"Czech" Return:
Sophomore Barbora Tichackova made her on court return for the homer opener after missing the Santa Fe/USA Classic due to a spider bite. The native of Leberec, Czech Republic had six kills and five blocks against PHSC.

1,000 and Closing:
As she nears closer to the milestone of the 1,000 dig club, sophomore Sydney Jaco continues her path for 1,000 career digs. The local product of Braden River High School currently has 97 digs this season and has 881 digs in her career. In the home opener against PHSC, Jaco had 23 digs and three assists.

Scouting Spartanburg Methodist:
The Pioneers are located in Spartanburg, South Carolina where they represent the Carolina Junior College Conference (CJCC) in NJCAA Region 10. The team is led by first year head coach Katie Zimmerman.

The Pioneers recently competed and hosted the two-day SMC Invitational last weekend. They would fall on day one losing 3-2 to Cape Fear Community College and shutout 3-0 by Wallace State Community College-Hanceville before splitting day two with a 3-1 win over College of Lake County and and a 3-0 loss Walters State Community College.

Sophomores Molly Mather and Aeyane Mattress lead the team offensively where they had a combined 56 kills (Mather: 30; Mattress: 26). Mather also leads the team in total blocks (4), while Mattress is second on the team in digs (47) and classmate Savannah Ducote leads the team with 56 assists.

Defensively, sophomore Kameron Neese leads the team with 71 digs and five aces.

Scouting Odessa:
The Wranglers are located in Odessa, Texas where they represent the Western Junior College Athletic Conference (WJCAC) in NJCAA Region 5. They are led by head coach Kristi Gray, who enters her third season as head coach.

The Wranglers are coming off competing in the New Mexico Military Institute Classic last weekend where they defeated Pima Community College (3-0), Arizona Western College (3-2), Scottsdale Community College (3-1) and Hutchinson Community College (3-1) before defeating Brookhaven College (3-1).

Sophomore Carol Santana leads the team with 50 kills and seven aces, while redshirt sophomore Alexis Parrish has 34 kills and freshman Marina De La Rosa has 100 assists in her name thus far.

The freshmen duo of Luisa Silva Dos Santos and Lyric Love are the hearts of blocking as they have a combined 57 total blocks (Silva Dos Santos: 32; Love: 25) while sophomore Faith Sanchez leads the team with 59 digs.

Scouting FSCJ:
The Blue Wave are coming off of competing in the two-day HCC Tournament where they were shutout by Indian River State on day one before splitting day two with a shutout win over Lake Sumter and shutout loss to HCC.

The Blue Wave were supposed to have their first home matchup against Montreat College's JV team (NAIA), but it was cancelled.

Offensively, sophomores Jana Cuk (26 kills) and Marine Angely (25 kills) and redshirt freshman Jhoana Sandoval (22 kills) play big roles on their offense. Sandoval also leads the team with four total blocks.

The Blue Wave have a possibility of doing a tri-setter formation with sophomore Iveanie Galio and freshmen Nadia Ball-Starks and Leah Mortensen. The trio of setters have a combined 79 assists.

Scouting CCF:
The Patriots hosted the CF Volleyball Invitational where they shutout Gulf Coast State 3-0 and defeated Miami Dade 3-2 on day one before shutting out Florida Gateway and Florida Southwestern (FSW) 3-0. They would then earn their first loss by a score of 3-1 to St. Pete (8/27). The Patriots will play FCSJ in a division match at Eckerd College prior to hosting their second tournament.

Sophomore Amanda Lebioda leads the team with 38 kills while adding 37 digs. Not far behind Lebioda offensively in kills is classmate Kariema Rodriguez (27 kills) and freshmen Nataly Garcia (28 kills) and Giovana Larregui (27 kills).

Defensively for the Patriots, freshman Essence Bell leads the team with 110 digs (2nd in the nation) while sophomore Lesly Johansson leads the team with 15 blocks (six solo).

Series History (2012-present):
The matchup against Spartanburg Methodist will be the first time, but the Manatees have faced Odessa, CCF and FSCJ in the past.

Against Odessa, this will be the second time both teams face each other. The first time was on September 20, 2014 where the Manatees won 3-1 at the SCF Invitational.

Against CCF, the Manatees are 5-12 against the Patriots. Last time both teams met, the Patriots defeated the Manatees three times in 2018 (9/18, 9/21 and 10/13). The Manatees last win over CCF was in 2014 where they won 3-0 in the final season match before winning the second time in the FCSAA State/ NJCAA District Tournament winning 3-0

Against FSCJ, the Manatees are 2-2 overall. Last time both teams met was in 2018 where they split a series losing 3-1 in the first match (8/27/18) before wining the second by a score of 3-2 (9/22/18).

How to Keep Up:
Fans can keep up to date with all five teams on Twitter:
SCF: @SCFVolleyball
SMC: @GOSMCPIONEERS
Odessa: @OCWranglerVB
FSCJ: @FSCJVB
CCF: @cfpats