SCF VB Opens Suncoast Play On the Road

The SCF volleyball team (2-11) will begin Suncoast Conference play on the road as they take on #10 Hillsborough CC (14-2) at the Dale Mabry Campus in Tampa Tuesday night, September 24 before facing #17 St. Pete College (5-1) at the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus Gymnasium Thursday night, September 26. Both matches are scheduled to start at 6 pm.

Last Time Out:
The Manatees are coming off of competing in two FCSAA Crossover matches where they were shutout by Broward and Miami Dade College. The two matches were the last two matches before Suncoast Play.

Key Players:
Offensively for the Manatees, sophomore Lakeesha Esseboom and freshman Leilani Wilcox-Nanai lead the way. Esseboom leads the team with 99 kills and is third in total blocks (22, six solo) while Wilcox-Nanai follows Esseboom with 82 kills and is second in digs (111). Esseboom had 13 kills and five blocks in the crossover matches while six kills and 13 digs.

Freshman Gracee Carpino leads the team with 315 assists and 18 aces. Carpino had 25 combined assists in the crossover matches.

Defensively, along with Esseboom, sophomore Barbora Tichackova and Daviya Bernard and freshman Lisa Jaunet hold the anchor in blocks. Tichackova leads the team with 42 blocks (10 solo) and 39 kills while Bernard is third on the team in kills (67) and fourth in blocks (21, five solo) and Jaunet has 53 kills (4th on the team) and is second in blocks (23, seven solo). Tichakova had five kills and nine blocks, Bernard had 14 kills and three blocks and Jaunet had nine kills and four blocks last times out.

Sophomore Sydney Jaco has 270 digs in her name (5.63 digs per set). Jaco had 33 combined digs in the crossover matches. In her career, Jaco has 1,054 digs.

Scouting HCC:
The Hawks are ranked #5 in the FCSAA Coaches Poll and #11 in the NJCAA National Poll. In their last outing, the Hawks are coming off of defeating Palm Beach State (3-1) and Indian River State (3-2) in their crossover matches.

Offensively, freshman Isabel Martin leads the team with 213 kills and 17 aces while going second in digs (136). In her crossover matches, Martin had a combined 33 kills and 27 digs. In fact, Martin has produced a double-double in four straight matches.

The Hawks will likely use a double setter formation with freshman Zoe Konjer and sophomore Mariana Volponi e Giordan. Konjer and Volponi e Giordan have produced a combined 578 assists (Konjer: 227,  Volponi e Giordan: 351). In their last outings, Konjer had 40 combined assists while Volponi e Giordan had 56.

Defensively, freshman middle blocker Nadine Burbrink and sophomore libero Caroline Molossi-Benke play key roles.

Burbrink leads the team with 56 blocks (14 solo) to go along with 87 kills (3rd on the team) and 12 aces (2nd on the team). Burbrink had 17 kills and 10 blocks in her last outings.

Following the pedigree and footsteps of her older sister and FGCU alum Vanessa Benke, Molossi-Benke leads the team with 253 digs and 11 aces (third on the team). In her last two matches, the product out of Toledo, Brazil had 46 digs and two aces, which include a career-high 30 digs against IRS.

Scouting SPC:
The Titans are ranked #4 in the FCSAA Coaches Poll and #17 in the NJCAA National Poll despite having played only six matches out of their 10 scheduled this season. The four matches they were scheduled to play in were cancelled due to the possibility of Hurricane Dorian hitting Florida. They recently played in their crossover matches against Indian River State and Palm Beach State winning both matches by a score of 3-1.

The Titans will play Florida Southwestern Tuesday night in Fort Myers at 6 pm.

The sophomore duo of Andressa Praise and Roberta Ribeiro lead the Titans offensively. Praise leads the team with 77 kills while Ribiero has 75. In their crossover matches, Praise had a combined 26 kills while Ribiero had 24 kills.

Defensively, Praise lead the team with 23 blocks (14 solo) while classmate Kateryna Dashevska has a team-leading 64 digs and 13 aces (2nd on the team). Dashevska had a combined 21 digs and six aces in the crossover matches.

Series History (2012-present):
Against both teams, the Manatees are 5-14 against the Hawks while against the Titans they are 7-12.

Last season, the Manatees fell to the Hawks and the Titans three times. Their last win over both teams was on October 3, 2017 (3-0 @ HCC) and October 27, 2014 (3-0 @ SPC).

How to Keep Up:
Fans can keep up with all three teams on Twitter:
SCF: @SCFVolleyball
HCC: @vb_hawks
SPC: @spcnews