Hodge Shines at NCAA First Round

Sacramento, Calif - Former SCF basketball standout D'Moi Hodge (2018-20) lead the way for the University of Missouri (25-9) in the first round of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and advanced to the second round. Hodge lead the Tigers, the #7 seed in the tournament, with 23 points (8-for-14 FG, 5-for-10 3PT, 2-for-2 FT), four rebounds, two assists and four steals in the 76-65 win over #10 seed Utah State. They will face #15 seed Princeton (21-8) (Ivy League Tournament winner) in the second round after they defeated #2 seed Arizona (28-6) 59-55 in their first round game.

"It's obviously amazing watching one of our former players play in the NCAA tournament and have them play for the last three years," said head coach Tom Parks. "They paved the way to see how capable they are when they come from junior college and have success. I thought D'Moi played a really good game and made the right plays that were big and down the stretch. Obviously, I'm very proud of D'Moi of the system he's playing in and working well with his teammates while his defense has been spot-on. I loved watching him play and I loved coaching him during his two years with the Manatees. Playing in an NCAA Tournament has always been a dream of mine and to see him accomplish a dream like that is just remarkable for him. I'm very excited for him as he prepares for Princeton in the second round."

Hodge is the second Manatee under the Parks era to play in the NCAA tournament. His former teammate, Isiah Dasher (2018-20) helped lead the Saint Peters Peacocks to the Elite Eight in the 2022 NCAA National Tournament.

Hodge began his collegiate basketball career at New Mexico Junior College in 2017-18, however the guard and native of Tortola, British Virgin Islands decided to redshirt and ended up transferring to SCF in 2018.

In his first year with the Manatees (Parks' first year as head coach), Hodge averaged 19.3 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 3.1 steals and 2.1 blocks per game, which included a 50 point game against Miami Dade. After helping the Manatees win the Suncoast Conference Tournament against Polk State and qualify for the FCSAA State Tournament for the first time since 2013. He would also end up on the All-Suncoast Conference First Team, the FCSAA All-State Team and the FCSAA All-Tournament Team as well as earning FCSAA Player of the Week three times and NJCAA Player of the Week once.

In his second year with the Manatees, Hodge's stats and accolades would increase as he averaged 25.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 2.7 steals and 2.1 blocks per game. During the season, Hodge would earn his 1,000th point against Florida State College at Jacksonville (December 15, 2019) before setting program records for points in a single season (805) and most career points (1,403) that were held by James Life (2004-06). Once again, he would lead the Manatees to the Suncoast Conference Tournament and defeated Polk State for the second straight year while ending up on the All-Suncoast Conference First Team and the FCSAA All-State Team before the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

After his tenure with SCF, Hodge would end up continuing his collegiate career at Cleveland State under head coach Dennis Gates. There, he helped the Vikings to a 19-8 overall record with a 16-4 record in the Horizon League where they would win the Horizon League Regular Season Championship and the Horizon League Championship Tournament to secure an automatic bid to the 2021 NCAA Men's Tournament, their first bid in 12 years before they fell in the first round to final four participant University of Houston. He would average 10.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game.

In his senior season, Hodge would return to the Vikings where he averaged 15.5 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game. He would help the Vikings win a second straight Horizon League Regular Season Championship before making a trip to the 2022 NIT where they would fall in the first round to eventual tournament winner Xavier University. He was named the Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year and was named on the All-Horizon League First Team.

Hodge, with one year of eligibility remaining, transferred to Missouri after Gates landed the job as the Tigers head coach. Three of his teammates, guard Tre Gomillion, guard Ben Sternberg and center Mabor Majak also ended up transferring with Hodge to join Gates.

Hodge is currently averaging 15.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.6 steals per game for the Tigers and is one of 25 finalists for the Lefty Driesell Defensive Player of the Year award (NCAA National Defensive Player of the Year). His 2.6 steals per game rank #4 in the nation.

SCF Softball Sweep Western University

Bradenton, Fla - The SCF softball team (10-8) bumped their record up to double digit wins as they swept Western University by scores of 6-2 and 11-0 (5) at the SCF Softball Complex.

"I think we started out a little dead in game one and we missed some opportunities," said head coach Mandy Schuerman. "Obviously, we played good enough to win, but there was things we could definitely improve on like we did in game two."

"I think we did really good today and that we won twice against a team that went 25-2 last season," said sophomore Presley O'Kimosh.

"I thought we did good today," said freshman Haley Rosenbaum. "We didn't come in scared and let the fact that they (Western University) came all the way from Canada to scare us and we still played our best."

"As a pitcher, it is the best when my defense works behind me," said freshman Brielle Bostow. "Being able to throw a shutout was because of my defense and I can only feel super comfortable throwing my pitches when I know I have a good defense behind me, so I thought it was a very good team win overall and we all made plenty of adjustments to do so." 

Game One:

Schuerman sent sophomore Sam Carlin to the mound for the first game, while Western University head coach Pete Lemon went with senior Aimee Leduc.

In the bottom of the first, the Manatees would open the doors in the bottom of the first as freshman Alissa Kessler would send sophomore Tori Copeland with an RBI single left for the first run of the game. One inning later, O'Kimosh would send a single to left to bring in Rosenbaum to make it 2-0 SCF.

The Mustangs would get their first run on the board at the top of the fourth after a sacrifice fly by junior Lauren Greco. The Manatees would respond back in the bottom half of the inning. After sophomore Chantel Schurr drew a walk, stole second and advanced to third on a passed ball, Rosenbaum would send a single to center to bring in Schurr before stealing second. After O'Kimosh hit a single, she would help set up a double steal attempt as she stole second while Rosenbaum scored by stealing home to make it 4-1 SCF.

After a scoreless fifth, the Mustangs would get their run of the game at the top of the sixth after a fielder's choice by Greco. The Manatees would once again respond in the bottom half of the inning. After a one out single by Rosenbaum, before she stole second, and O'Kimosh drew a walk before they performed another successful double steal attempt, freshman Maddisan Noriega would send a single to right to bring in Rosenbaum and O'Kimosh to make it 6-2 SCF.

At the top of the seventh, the Mustangs would get two runners on, but strong defense form Carlin turning a double play gave the Manatees the win in the first game.

Carlin would get the win after throwing a complete game, giving up two runs on eight hits with three walks and one strikeout. She is now 3-0 on the season.

Leduc would get the loss after giving up four runs (three earned) on five hits with three walks and one strikeout. Freshman Haaneke Ister Bender gave up two runs on two hits with one walk and one strikeout.

O'Kimosh and Rosenbaum would each have two hits. O'Kimosh (2-for-2) added an RBI, a walk, one run and two stolen bases, while Rosenbaum (2-for-2) added one RBI, one run, one walk and career-high five stolen bases. O'Kimosh also caught one runner from stealing second.

"I felt good at the plate," said O'Kimosh on her game. "I made some key adjustments based on the last game I played. I took what coach Tony (Cummings) told me into consideration about my hands being close to my body and I felt confident hitting the ball and I did."

"I felt comfortable at the plate and have been hitting good so far," said Rosenbaum on her stolen bases. "I just needed to come in with that same mentality from the last two games and I just built off their errors."

Noriega would be the only Manatee with a multi-RBI as she finished 1-for-1 with two RBI, while Kessler (1-for-2, one RBI) and Copeland (1-for-3, one run and one stolen base) had the remaining two hits. Schurr (one run, one walk and a stolen base) would also contribute in the game.

For the Mustangs, sophomore Abby TenPas had the only multi-hit game for the team as she went 2-for-3 at the plate, while Greco had their only two RBI.

Game Two:

For game two, Schuerman sent freshman Brielle Bostow to the mound, while Lemon sent freshman Hanneke Isert Bender to counter.

The Manatees would once again open early on the scoreboard beginning with sophomore Olivia Seibert reaching first on a fielding error before Copeland hit a bunt single and Kessler drew a walk to load the bases for Schurr. On a wild pitch, Copeland would score for the first run before Schurr grounded out to bring in Kessler to make it 3-0 SCF. Sophomore Gabi Nicholson would then put on the speed as she hit an inside-the-park home run for her second of the season to make it 4-0.

In the bottom of the second, the Manatees would add to their lead beginning with a leadoff walk by freshman Taylor Halback. After a single by classmate Stephanie Oaks before they moved to scoring position on a Rosenbaum sacrifice bunt. Seibert would then send a single down the middle to bring in Halback and Oaks before she advanced to third on the throw and stole third. Copeland would then single Seibert in to make it 7-0.

Meanwhile on the mound, Bostow remained calm, cool and collected on the mound as she continued to put zeros on the board to keep the Mustangs from scoring and hitting.

In the bottom of the third, the Manatees would then invoke the eight-run mercy rule as Halback would send a single to left to bring in Nicholson to make it 8-0 SCF.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Manatees would add their final runs of the game to push their lead to double digits. After Seibert lead off with a walk and Copeland hit a single, Siebert would score on a fielding error as sophomore Renee Dixon reached on a fielder's choice. After redshirt freshman Jordan O'Brien was hit by a pitch and Nicholson would draw a walk to load the bases, Dixon would be out at home while Noriega reached on a fielder's choice. Halback would once again show her hitting ability as she sent a single to center to bring in O'Brien and Nicholson to make it 11-0 SCF.

Bostow would end up losing her chance at a no-hitter as she gave up a leadoff single, but the Tarpon Springs native would seal the shutout and get the win for the Manatees with the defense on her side. She would bump up to 3-3 after throwing a three-hit five inning shutout with one walk and one strikeout.

"The best way I felt on the mound was calm, cool and collected," said Bostow on her shutout. "After walking the first batter, the nerves sometimes get to me, but once I settled in, I felt good with Gabi (Nicholson) behind the plate."

Isert Bender would get the loss after giving up seven runs (four earned) on five hits with two walks in two innings. Sophomore Ainsleigh Wedow gave up four runs on three hits with two walks in two innings of relief.

Copeland would lead the way in hitting as she went 3-for-3 with an RBI and one run, while Halback lead the overall offense as she finished 2-for-2 with a walk and three RBI.

Siebert followed Halback in RBI as she went 1-for-2 with two RBI, three runs and one stolen base.

Nicholson (1-for-1, one home run and three runs) and Oaks (1-for-1, one run) had the remaining two hits, while Schurr (one RBI), Kessler (one run and one walk) and O'Brien (one run) also contributed.

Sophomore Abby Bush and freshmen Madison Mahon and Olivia Smith had all three of the Mustangs hits.

Notes:

The Manatees' softball is the first of all six athletic programs to play an international school (college/university).

"It was amazing," said Schuerman on the historic. "While I don't really pay attention to all that, we just see another team on the other side."

'It felt good," said Bostow. "It was cool that we were the first team out of all of our teams from our program to play someone from another country."

"I thought it was great," said O'Kimosh. "I thought it was an amazing opportunity for us, even when I wasn't thinking about it constantly and just taking it one pitch at a time."

With the two wins, Schuerman would earn wins #248 and 249 and remains one away from reach 250 career wins as head coach.

Other Suncoast Scores:

Polk State (4-6) split their series with  Lake Sumter State (11-9) winning 6-5 before losing game two 7-6.

Suncoast Conference Standings:

1. St. Pete (8-6)

2. SCF (10-8)

3. Polk State (4-6)

4. Hillsborough (5-10)

Up Next:

The Manatees will head back on the road for the next four games. They will play on neutral grounds first as they head to Longwood to compete in the Courtney Miller Invitational at Boombah Park against host Seminole State College (16-3) and Eastern Florida State (8-12) Saturday, February 25 before traveling to Ocala to take on #12 College of Central Florida (16-4) Tuesday, February 28.

Wicks Named Player of the Week

PC by FCSAA

Bradenton, Fla - Redshirt sophomore Skylar Wicks earned his first collegiate basketball award as he was named the NJCAA Region 8 Player of the Week. Wicks is the first Manatee this season to earn the weekly accolade.

In the last three games, the former Missouri State Bear guard averaged 25.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and two steals per game while 52.4% from the 3-point line.

In all three games, Wicks scored at least 11 points in them (22 vs St. Pete, 11 vs Polk State, 43 vs Gulf Coast State) while helping the Manatees to eight straight wins.

Wicks and the Manatees will look to stay on a strong pace as they travel to Daytona for the Florida JUCO Shootout against Gulf Coast State and Pensacola State Saturday and Sunday, December 10 and 11.

SCF VB Heads to Gulf District Tournament

Bradenton, Fla- After a long drought of not qualifying for the postseason for eight straight seasons, the SCF volleyball team (12-14) will turn their shining moment into a reality as they travel to Palatka for the two-day FCSAA/NJCAA Gulf District Tournament at the William H. Tuten Gymnasium Friday and Saturday, November 4-5, hosted by St. John's River State. The Manatees will be the #7 seed in the tournament and will face #19 Gulf Coast State College (24-7) in the first round at 2 pm.

Last Time Out:

The Manatees wrapped up their portion of the regular season after losing to Palm Beach State at home (3-2) at home before losing to #17 Hillsborough (3-0) on the road in the finale. They would finish in second in the Sun Lakes South Division.

Final Sun Lakes Standings:

North - 

1. #19 Gulf Coast State (22-3, 10-3) #*

2. RV Pensacola State (24-7, 10-3) #

3. St. John's River (20-14, 9-4)#

4. Florida State College at Jacksonville (9-7, 7-6) e

5. Lake Sumter State (10-15, 3-10) e

South - 

1. Palm Beach State (11-6, 9-4) #*

2. SCF (12-14, 5-8) #

3. South Florida State (8-11, 5-8) #

4. St. Pete (8-11, 4-9) e

5. Pasco-Hernando State (8-16, 3-10) e

# - Clinched Playoff Berth

e - eliminated

* Conference Champions

Historic Fact:

In 2014, the Manatees, who at the time were division one, went to the 16-team NJCAA Volleyball National Tournament in Casper, Wyoming after automatically qualifying after reaching the finals of the FCSAA State Tournament and finishing as the runner-up. They would be one of three teams in Florida to go to nationals (Miami Dade and Polk State were the other two teams that went).

The Manatees would finish in 10th place and finish the season 28-7 overall with a 7-1 record in conference where they had the third longest winning streak in program history (22 straight wins) while being ranked nationally.

The following names are the players on the 2014 SCF volleyball team:

JaNhea Beisner

Yamiana 'Yami' Ramos

Jessica Emile

Hannah Curtis

Kalli Collier

Lea Lieb

Katie Gathman

Taylor Lafavre

Jenny D'Alessandro

Holly Kabana

Maja Ristic

Kelly Stewart

Susanna Peonia

Tournament Breakdown:

The FCSAA DII/NJCAA Gulf District Tournament is single elimination where seven teams will compete. The team that loses their match is eliminated from the tournament and ends their season. The winner of the final match will win the tournament and represent the Gulf District as one of 16 teams for the NJCAA National Volleyball Tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Six teams from Florida will be in the tournament with one team from Mississippi also joining. As a result of taking the tiebreaker in the north division, Pensacola State is the #1 seed in the tournament and  will have a first round bye.

Lake Sumter State, who won the district tournament last year, did not qualify for the tournament this year as they finished this season in last place in their division.

There is a possible chance where one of the teams could get a spot in the national tournament as an at-large bid.

The following listed are the seven teams that qualified for the Gulf District Tournament and their seedings:

#1 (#19) Gulf Coast State (23-3)

#2 RV Pensacola State (24-7)

#3 St. John's River State (20-14)

#4 Palm Beach State (11-6) 

#5 South Florida State (8-11)

#6 Northwest Mississippi CC (15-13)

#7 SCF (12-14)

Match 1: #4 Palm Beach State vs  #5 South Florida State, 9 am

Match 2: #3 St. John's River vs Northwest Mississippi CC, 11:30 am

Match 3: #2 (#19) Gulf Coast State vs #7 SCF, 2 pm

Match 4: RV Pensacola State vs Match 1 winner, 4:30 pm

Match 5: Match 2 winner vs Match 3 winner, 7 pm

Match 6: Match 4 winner vs Match 5 winner, 1 pm (Gulf District Championship)

Award Winners:

Prior to the start of the district tournament, Steve Winterling, the chairman of the Sun Lakes Conference and athletic director to Pasco-Hernando State College, presented the yearly awards to the coaches and players.

Sun Lakes Player of the Year:

The Sun Lakes Conference Player of the Year was crowned to freshman outside hitter Allison Bryant from Palm Beach State. Bryant lead the Panthers with 269 kills, 34 aces, 210 digs and 25 blocks. She was also named a member of the All-Sun Lakes First Team and the All-FCSAA DII Team.

In addition to the Sun Lakes Player of the Year accolade, Bryant won the Dulcie 'Cookie' Stevens Award for being named the DII Player of the Year.

Sun Lakes Coach of the Year:

The Sun Lakes Conference Coach of the Year would be awarded to Pensacola State head coach Patricia Gandolfo. Gandolfo enters her first season with the Pirates after spending her last two seasons as an assistant coach for the University of West Florida. She helped the Pirates to the playoffs after their run last season where they fell in the semifinals to Lake Sumter State.

All-Sun Lakes First Team:

For the Manatees, freshmen Kendall Steinert was named to the All-Sun Lakes First Team. Steinert, who is ranked #27 in the nation in assists, is a three-time FCSAA Setter of the Week (9/6, 9/20 and 10/25) and one-time NJCAA Offensive Player of the Week (9/22). The setter from Englewood, Florida currently has 846 assists, 280 digs, 37 aces, 37 blocks (six solo) and 61 kills while producing 16 double-doubles in the season.

Additionally, Steinert recently surpassed Ewine Guscetti (824, 2018) for sixth all-time in career assists in the match against South Florida State and needs 14 to surpass Gracee Carpino (859, 2019-20) for fifth all-time.

Members from the other teams are as listed:

Gulf Coast State - Jenna Schuliger and Annabell Chancey

Pensacola State - Anyaliz Rodriguez

Palm Beach State - Allison Bryant and Nina Vellesi

South Florida State Yeishlanie Reyes and Isabella Hurtado 

St. Pete College - Bianca Johnson

Florida State College at Jacksonville - Ava Pringle

St. John's River State -  Cassidy Casey

All-Sun Lakes Second Team:

Representing the Manatees on the All-Sun Lakes Second Team is freshmen Haley Rhoads and Isabella Rebimbas.

While she sat out the last two matches to rest, Rhoads lead the offense with 203 kills, 12 aces and 50 blocks (14 solo). She is ranked #197 in the nation.

Rebimbas, who is the hybrid player for playing both offensively and defensively, finished the regular season with 188 kills, 16 aces, 280 digs and 21 blocks. She also produced four double-doubles on the season.

Members from the other teams are as listed:

Gulf Coast State - Erica Irby

Pensacola State - Brooke Sproat

Palm Beach State - Dena Otte and Ashlyn Banton

Pasco-Hernando State - Elena Castillo-Wetzell and Isabella Greifenstein

Florida State College at Jacksonville - Althea Sandoval

Lake Sumter State - Yarelis Lopez Osorio

St. John's River State - Julianne Lindsay

All-FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Team:

Along with being named on the All-Sun Lakes First Team, Steinert was named a member of the DII All-FCSAA/NJCAA Region 8 Team.

Members from the other teams are as listed:

Gulf Coast State - Annabell Chancey and Jenna Schuliger

Pensacola State - Julia Neveu and Anyaliz Rodriguez

Palm Beach State - Allison Bryant and Nina Vellesi

Florida State College at Jacksonville - Ava Pringle

St. John's River State - Cassidy Casey, Hope Harrington

St. Pete - Bianca Johnson

South Florida - Yeishlanie Reyes

Big Helps:

Alongside Steinert, Rhoads and Rebimbas, sophomores Shelby McGee and Lison Stoffel and freshmen Caelen Cook and Shelby Pillow play big roles in the rotation.

McGee leads the back row for the team with 338 digs, 23 aces and 42 assists. She has made the FCSAA 25 Dig Club three times this season.

Stoffel, who has played at three different positions, currently has 252 digs, 42 aces, 84 assists and 42 kills. In assists, she has 532 career assists (310 with Independence CC) and needs 65 to surpass Sanja Vojnovic (596, 2015) for 10th all-time.

Cook has rotated around between front row block and attack. Currently, she has 187 kills, 90 digs and 15 blocks in her name.

Pillow, the lead blocker in the front row, currently has 168 kills and 70 blocks (23 solo). She is currently tied at #102 in the nation in total blocks.

The Wild Ones:

Alongside the players who made the conference teams, freshmen Bailey Perry and Rachel Carroll have been the wildcards for the team, despite some nagging injuries (Perry: ankle; Carroll: concussion).

Perry currently has 45 kills and 96 digs, while Carroll has 19 aces and 175 digs this season.

Scouting #19 Gulf Coast State:

The Commodores, who are ranked #19 in the nation, are the #2 seed in the tournament after finishing in first in the north division.

Sophomore Evyn Peddie leads the offense with 178 kills and 35 blocks, while freshman Erica Irby (All-Sun Lakes Second Team) follows with 172 kills, 138 digs and 18 blocks and classmate Lauren Marien rounds the order with 160 kills, 39 aces and 18 blocks. 

Defensively, sophomore Aliyah Baker leads with 48 blocks (21 solo) to go along with 78 kills and 25 aces, while sophomore Jensen Diggs leads with 208 digs and 14 aces.

Scouting RV Pensacola State:

The Pirates are receiving votes in the NJCAA National Polls after finishing second behind Gulf Coast State, with the help of Sun Lakes Coach of the Year Patricia Gandolfo. They will be the #1 seed and will have a first round bye while awaiting the winner between #4 Palm Beach State and #5 South Florida State.

Freshman Anyaliz Rodriguez (All-Sun Lakes First Team - North Division) leads the offense 369 kills (3.32 kills per set), 32 aces, 416 digs and 52 blocks, while sophomore Brooke Sproat (All-Sun Lakes Second Team) follows with 309 kills and 70 blocks.

On defense, freshman Paige Patterson leads the front row with 98 blocks (85 block assists) and 151 kills, while sophomore Julia Neveu leads the back row with 515 digs and 40 aces.

Scouting St. John's River:

The Vikings earned the #3 seed after finishing in third place in the division.

Sophomore Cassidy Casey (All-Sun Lakes First Team) leads the offense with 310 kills, 15 aces and 80 blocks (70 block assists), while classmate Emma West follows with 214 kills and 41 blocks.

Defensively, freshman Alina Schneider leads the back row defense with 448 digs and 53 aces (#71 in the nation).

Scouting Palm Beach State:

The Panthers claimed the Sun Lake South Division Regular Season Championship while securing the #4 seed in the tournament.

Aside from Bryant (Sun Lakes Player of the Year, Region 8 DII Player of the Year and All-Sun Lakes First Team), sophomore Nina Vellesi (All-Sun Lakes First Team) has 117 kills, 23 aces and 31 blocks, while Otte (All-Sun Lakes Second Team) has 129 kills and 24 blocks.

On the back row defense, Banton (All-Sun Lakes Second Team) leads with 278 digs and 22 aces.

Scouting South Florida State:

The Panthers are the #5 seed in the tournament after finishing third in the south division.

Sophomore Isabella Hurtado (All-Sun Lakes First Team) leads the team offensively with 171 kills and 52 blocks, while freshmen Jayleen Santiago (144 kills) and Allie Shaffer (123 kills, 23 aces and 150 digs) follow along.

On defense, sophomore Yeishlanie Reyes (All-Sun Lakes First Team) leads with 342 digs.

Scouting Northwest Mississippi CC:

Northwest Mississippi CC is lead by Allison Burchyett, who enter her third season as head coach.

The Rangers are coming off of finishing the regular season at 15-13 overall with a 3-1 record in conference play. They qualified for the Gulf District Tournament after defeating Pearl River CC 3-0 in the NJCAA Region 23 Play-In Championship.

On offense, freshman Micah Swift leads the way with 211 kills, while classmates Kennedy Smith (185 kills and 13 aces), Jacie Hayes (161 kills)

On defense, sophomore Kayla Beal leads the way with 305 digs and 34 aces, while Swift and Hayes lead with 70+ blocks (Swift: 73; Hayes: 75).

How to Keep Up:

All the matches will air livestream on the FCSAA Digital Network and fans can keep up with the Manatees on all social media platforms.

Social Media Links -

Instagram: @volleyball_SCF

Twitter: @SCFVolleyball

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SCFvolleyball

FCSAA Livestream Link - https://team1sports.com/fcsaa/

Kahai-Enos Brings Aloha Spirit to Volleyball

PC: SCFManatees.com

Last year, I did two feature stories on SCF volleyball, the first was now sophomore Leilani Wilcox-Nanai and then it followed with then sophomore Sydney Jaco. For 2021 and SCF volleyball, this feature story will talk about one of the newcomers that joined the squad this season, sophomore Kaysha Kahai-Enos. Kahai-Enos is a middle blocker that hails from Puna, Hawaii that joined the team with a plethora of experience, although her athletic journey did not start on the court.

“I grew up in a very athletic family,” said Kahai-Enos. “Before playing volleyball, I used to be a swimmer and very quickly I lost interest in it because it was the same thing all the time and I wasnʻt able to work with a team. I wanted to play a sport where it involved teammwork and not just doing something on my own because it seemed too boring for me.”

“I wanted to do volleyball because it seemed like a much more fun sport to do and I wanted to play in a sport with teammates. I would always play volleyball during recess at school with my friends and it was a good way to make new friends and have fun.”

After elementary school, Kahai-Enos’ journey with volleyball commenced for her career.

“Starting out middle school, my papa and aunty asked me if I wanted to play volleyball and my parents wanted me to do something active. My papa brought me to my first volleyball practice and every since then I never stopped playing volleyball.”

Although it was fun and competitive for her, Kahai-Enos did have a few moments where it was difficult for her, but ultimately found a way to ignore it.

“There were a few moments in life where I wanted to stop playing volleyball due to challenges that made me think I was losing interest and my passion for volleyball and that is a challenge I had to overcome,” said Kahai-Enos on her challenges. “Coming back to a new platform of volleyball, I refreshed my brain and looked at the bigger picture of the value and opportunities that volleyball has brought me and can continue to bring me. I had to find that passion and motivation again and I had so much hunger that I wanted to be the best version of myself in every aspect of life.”

“While becoming a market partner, there were many values and lessons that it has taught me that helped motivate me in volleyball and to be mentally tough and leave nothing behind because I had nothing to lose. During down time and any breaks that I had, I worked as hard as I can and pushed myself to improve on my skills, strength and my knowledge of the game so I could come back for the season strong. I had to make this a set back rather than a failure.”

Kahai-Enos would then continue to a higher level in high school and became a standout at Kamehameha High where she helped them to a star tournament for a fifth place her senior year which had a very favorite memory.

PC: pilipaa.com

​“One of my favorite moments of my senior year in high school was competing in the Blaisdel arena, where all the big games are held, which I had never gotten to play in so it was very exciting,” said Kahai-Enos. “We were on our final last game and at the end, families and friends came to give us leis and congratulate us for an amazing season we had, having made it the farthest we have made it in years.”

“During that time I was very proud to be a part of this wonderful team and thankful for all the awesome coaching staff that we had and for helping us make it this far into our season. It was a bitter-sweet moment because we were all so happy that we made it far off into our season and brought our team a long way, but we were sad that the season had come to an end, for everyone on the team were so closely bonded like a family and we made so much memories with each other. 

After high school, Kahai-Enos received a few offers to play collegiate volleyball from colleges like Midland College in Texas and Western Nebraska Community College. Eventually, she chose to enroll at Lee College in Baytown, Texas. Upon her arrival at Lee College, the culture shock of being away from home hit.

“When I arrived at Lee College, I felt very far away from home by myself and an overall culture shock,” said Kahai-Enos. “I felt excited to get to know my teammates and for the season to get started so it was very bitter-sweet. 

Kahai-Enos did not see much action with Lee College as she only played in five matches. Then when COVID-19 hit, things changed for the college as they decided to suspend the athletics program for the 2020-21 year.

After finding out about it, Kahai-Enos entered the transfer portal and joined SCF to play volleyball and continue her academic career there.

“Amongst many other colleges that gave me opportunities as well, I choose SCF because it is close to the ocean which I love and I have a family here that I know I can call on that always takes care of me,” said Kahai-Enos on choosing SCF.

When she first arrived to Bradenton, the first ones to greet her in Florida were head coach Coach Lynn Burnette and former Manatee volleyball player Barbora Tichackova as well as her family, who were living in Florida as well.

Upon her enrollment at SCF, Kahai-Enos said that she felt at peace and was happy about the transition.

“I knew I was exactly where I needed to be and in my own environment,” said Kahai-Enos. “I felt like I had nothing to worry about and that everything was going to work out just fine. I knew that I had the right people around me in case I ever needed help with anything.”
She was even excited to meet her new teammates.

“When I met my new teammates, I first felt so excited to meet every one of them because I have lots of new teammates and some from different places from around the world. I knew that we would become a close family and have lots of fun together throughout school and volleyball.”

While she loves volleyball, Kahai-Enos does enjoy doing things outside of volleyball.

“When I donʻt play volleyball, I like to go to the beach, spend time with families and friends, play ukulele, sing with family, dance hula and go camping,” said Kahai-Enos. 

Kahai-Enos is no stranger to enjoying memories at SCF 

“One memory that I enjoyed while being at SCF is waking up every morning being so happy and thankful that I am in such a wonderful place, surrounded with amazing teammates, a very nice and coach, and excited for playing at the beach on our ride there.”

While the season still is in session for SCF, Kahai-Enos plans to continue her with collegiate volleyball while seeking a career in community leadership. She hopes to do so while transferring to a university and being the best version of herself as a player and as an individual.

Looking Back to the SCF 2019-20 Athletic Season

As it sits, the 2019-20 athletic season for State College of Florida Manatee-Sarasota (SCF) has come to a close early due to the pandemic of COVID-19 (Coronavirus). It truly is upsetting for not just for myself and all the coaches and athletes that were playing their sports in the spring, but for the sophomores that worked their tails off to compete, and now it's been tarnished.

This was not only happening to SCF and the junior colleges in the FCSAA, but it is also happening to other junior colleges nationally in the NJCAA (D1, D2 and D3) as well as colleges/universities in the NCAA (D1, D2 and D3), NAIA, California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA), National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA), United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), Association of Christian College Athletics (ACCA) and Northwest Athletic Conference (NWAC). In total, over 2,000 junior colleges and universities (2,291 to be exact) had to stop the seasons of their spring sports because of COVID-19. We're talking about over 10 million student-athletes not being able to play their final year(s) of eligibility this year as a result.

I could sense a lot of pain for all the athletes at SCF that are sophomores and are unable to play in the spring because of this pandemic and I understand it sucks, but I guess in a way it is for our own safety.

On a positive note, in a statement by the NJCAA, they indicated that, "no spring sport student-athlete who was enrolled at a member college in 2020 will be charged a year of participation." This will preserve the season of eligibility for beach volleyball, baseball, softball, and tennis.

Now what does it mean for the remaining 24 sophomores for baseball, softball, tennis and beach volleyball? Will they get their final year of eligibility back? Will they be listed as 'redshirt' sophomores? The answer to that is yes they will get their final year of eligibility back as the NJCAA will give back all spring sports their eligibility, but as far as being dubbed as 'redshirts' I'm not sure.

The thing is it will take a good amount of time to put all the pieces together before making final decisions on what should happen, but as it looks at the moment, the 24 combined sophomores will get their one remaining year of eligibility back and do have the option to stay and play for SCF or continue on with their current paths.

But to steer on a positive path of the 2019-20 athletic season, let's look back and talk about some memorable moments that the Manatees have produced for all six sports along with the stories I wrote about them.

SCF Indoor and Beach Volleyball:
Lets begin with indoor volleyball and beach volleyball. Yes, the past five seasons have gone down for the SCF indoor volleyball team and they did finish 5-19 overall with a 2-4 record in the Suncoast this past season. Originally, they were 3-23 overall with an 0-6 record in conference play, but they moved to third place in the Suncoast standings, and the reason why SCF moved from last place to third in the Suncoast was because of St. Pete College. SPC had an ineligible player that played during the season. The old saying is this: "You cheat, you're out."

We even played Florida Southwestern in their inaugural season despite falling to them in both matchups.

The first story I did on the volleyball team was on their season schedule released where I talked about who they were facing and the players to introduce.

One of SCF volleyball's memorable moments came from sophomore Sydney Jaco when she reached 1,000 digs in her career in a win against the Webber International junior varsity team. Jaco ended up finishing 1,230 career digs at the end of her sophomore year and was named a member of the All-Suncoast Second Team and a five-time member of the FCSAA 25 Dig Club. All-in-all, Jaco finished her career as a 21-time FCSAA 25 Dig Club for the Manatees, a one-time All-Suncoast First Team, two-time All-Suncoast All-Academic Team and one-time NJCAA National Player of the Week.

With volleyball, I was even able to do two stories on two of the players, Jaco and freshman Leilani Wilcox-Nanai. Truthfully, they were nervous about having a story on them while I was nervous on starting the interviews with them. In fact, Jaco and Wilcox-Nanai were the first players I did an interview with on the win during Jaco's milestone.

Some of my favorite moments from the 2019 season with SCF indoor volleyball included doing the national anthem for their sophomore night and giving one of the assistant coaches and the players goosebumps despite the loss to Monroe College, but the most memorable was when Jaco, Barbora Tichackova, Lisa Jaunet and Emily Sauceda all came to see me at Maple Street and eat there too, which meant a whole lot to me. (*Link in description)

Now with the addition of beach volleyball, they finished their campaign 3-0 for their inaugural season, even if it was cut short with the majority of the team from the indoor team. I guess in a way, the inaugural season was just a taste of what to expect for next season.

I was so thankful to meet the several newcomers in the freshmen in Wilcox-Nanai as well as the others (Jaunet, Bailey Sikkema, Jazmin Spencer, Brooke Henry, Gracee Carpino, Noelie Claude and Britzy Lucas) and I'm also thankful to meet the returners in Jaco as well as Tichackova, Sauceda, Daviya Bernard and Hannah Strickland). They all made such an impact for SCF volleyball, but I know that where they go, the journey leads them to their success.

SCF Basketball:
I look back to my first story on the SCF basketball team on a preview of the Manatees playing Gordon State College at home. Before I got started on it, I first decided to meet the head coach for SCF, Tom Parks. He seemed like a really good guy. Truthfully, he reminded me of a taller version of Brock Erickson, which actually led to me being a little intimidated by him.

After the game against Gordon State, Parks was the first person I did an interview after the game on the win and at first I was a little nervous, but it worked out well in the end. When the first Suncoast Conference game at home against SPC commenced, I got Parks's comments, of course, but then I also got then sophomore DeAndre Osuigwe and then freshman D'Moi Hodge and their take on the game.

I remember in one of the stories against Hillsborough, Park said a meaningful message on my stories.

"I just want to thank you Pat for doing this because I think it's unbelievable with your passion and the fact that you come and support us every game with your notebook writing stats and how serious you take this. It means a lot to our program and we really appreciate your support and writing about us on your blog. It really means a lot to us."

"1st Herd" finished the 2018-19 season 18-15 overall with a 6-6 Suncoast record. Heading towards the postseason, mainly the Suncoast Conference Tournament, coach Parks considered me as a member of what he dubbed as "1st Herd". I never asked where the idea came into play for that, but I guess the old saying is "Some things are just better left unsaid... for now".

Fast forwarding to this year and it was very memorable. I mean to start it off, we had the debuts of seven players. Truthfully, this season and last season were the best seasons that SCF Basketball has had in a long time as we finished 21-11 overall with a 5-7 record in the Suncoast. The 21 wins were the most we had in program history. We won the Suncoast Conference Tournament and made it to the FCSAA State Tournament for the second straight season before falling in the first round of the state tournament to Tallahassee (TCC).

One of the big moments from the 2019-20 season for SCF basketball team came off the shot of Hodge where he set two scoring records: most points in a single season and most career points. Hodge broke and set both records during the Suncoast Tournament. I even got to travel with the team for the game and cut a piece of the net after the win, even if we had to cut it at Hal Chasey Gymnasium.

From my personal favorite moments with SCF Basketball, I have two special ones that were very heartfelt and meaningful.

The first was being able to travel with the basketball team for the Suncoast Championship was one of them. It truly was the first time I ever got to travel with any team from SCF, thanks to coach Parks pulling a couple of strings to have me join the team on the road and being able to cut a piece of the net after claiming the tournament.

The second one was two days after winning the Suncoast Tournament when I asked the entire basketball team to come to an open house ballroom dance party at Wilson's Dance Sport International for a night of dancing, food and fun in which they said they would. At first I was a little worried if they weren't going to come, but the entire team and student assistant David Peck were true to their words and they all came, participated in the fun group and danced the night away, which made my night. We all even got a photo together and even got a complimentary dance lesson for participating. Honestly, they all did really well on the dance floor (*Link in description).

There are some sad parts from this season. Of course, it was seeing D'Moi Hodge, Isiah Dasher, Chris Scarborough, Remy Robert II and Max Bell-Ramos having to end their careers and parting ways from SCF, but it was also sad that I will not being able to see the debut of Jean-Pierre "JP" Frederick at SCF because of a series of issues while trying to transfer from another college in Saint Lucia (his native country) that had no sports whatsoever. As a result, he has to transfer to a four-year college. It really is sad because I was really looking forward to seeing him play this season at SCF, but regardless, I know he'll do phenomenal at the higher and I'll support him no matter which school he goes to.

2nd Herd has ended for 2019-20, but 3rd Herd will be in session with Marshall Kearing, Sam Grayson, Jordan Clark, Michael Gavin and Calvin McCutcheon returning to the team for their sophomore campaigns as well as the debuts of walk-on players Rae Miller and Christian Nieto, who redshirted last season. I also look forward to seeing the debuts of Kwo Agwa, Michael Hatcher, DK Kelly, Javon Bell, Keenan Willie, Joe Stubbs and Luke Lecroy when they arrive to SCF for their true freshmen years.

SCF Tennis:
Although this year for SCF tennis wasn't as promising as the 2018-19 season, they all worked hard on the court despite going 2-7 overall with an 0-5 record in conference.

I was able to meet the newcomers which included Karla Menendez and Martina Shakhnazarova, and got to see the returners that included Sara Ramirez-Goncalves, Brie Botsford and Mackenzie Vraspir. In fact, I wrote feature stories on Ramirez-Goncalves and Botsford.

I'm remembering the first story I wrote on the SCF tennis team was on their season home opener against Southeastern University (NAIA) for the 2018-19 where they won 8-1. There were the debuts of Ramirez-Goncalves, Botsford and Zeba Jamal. Vrsapir and Alexis Booker didn't play that year as they redshirted. During that season, I didn't have my first postgame interview with coach Chloe Murphy until after the matchup against Broward and didn't interview a player until their shutout win over St. Catherine (NCAA DIII) when I interviewed Ramirez-Goncalves. Arguably, Ramirez-Goncalves was the only player I did a postgame interview with from both seasons.

The 2018-19 season was a big one for the tennis team. They went to nationals for the first time in two seasons and they finished first tied for fifth place out of 32 teams with Ramirez-Goncalves reaching the semifinals in her flight and Jamal and fellow alum Camile 'Cami' Portalier winning the consolation doubles championship.

This season was a lot different and it's going to be different without Ramirez-Goncalves and Botsford on the squad next season since they were the only two true sophomores on the squad (unless they decide to stay), but it's always going to be like that for any sport.

SCF Softball:
So let's start with the obvious, softball was on a rough patch this season going 1-3 in the JUCO Kickoff Classic to start it off before sweeping Santa Fe to go to even before going on a six-game winning streak with victories over Lake Sumter, ASA Miami (home opener) and Palm Beach State. They then went on a seven-game winning streak and won six out of eight games from their eight-game homestead before sweeping Lincoln Land CC to close off the season at 20-12. The softball team was unable to start Suncoast Conference play due to the coronavirus.

The main part of writing about the 2020 season for SCF Softball was based on head coach Mandy Schuerman as she was aiming for her 200th career win as head coach for the softball team. With softball, the 200th win I think was going to be one of my best stories, but I'm planning on doing a feature story on coach Schuerman about her time as head coach for SCF softball and her milestones with SCF softball as well as leading to her 200th career win as head coach.

So far from the sophomore class (Madelyn Graham, Makayla Benavidez, Ashlee Zientek and Madi LoCastro), Graham (Warner: NAIA) and Zientek (Ursuline: NCAA DII) are deciding to continue to their softball careers at the university level.

Softball was the first sport I watched at SCF when then head coach Meredith Michaels (nee Headings) was leading the team to the 2012 NJCAA College Softball World Series as one of two members from the FCSAA.

SCF Baseball:
Let's start it off with my first story on the SCF baseball team on their win over Broward College winning by a score of 10-1 (2/8/19). I didn't get my first interview with coach Tim Hill II until the game against Hillsborough (3/29/19). Then we made it to the state tournament where we went to the state tournament before being the sixth team to be eliminated.

When the 2020 season went underway, the first story I did for SCF baseball was the opening day game against FSW in a non-conference matchup at CoolToday Park in Venice (the spring training home of the Atlanta Braves). Some would assume that it was home field advantage for SCF because the stadium was closer to SCF, however it was deemed as neutral grounds because it took place neither at SCF nor FSW even it was closer to SCF.

When we had the home opener, I got coach Hill, of course, but this season I got to interview my first two players from the baseball team in transfer AJ Fritz and freshman Clay Callahan. Fritz transferred from Evansville and was one of 11 transfers to join SCF.

Truthfully, the main player I interviewed the most was actually Cameron Lee when he hit his first collegiate home run and his first collegiate grand slam.

I'm remembering one of the funniest parts of the 2020 baseball season was when I was at the home game against PHSC, Fritz's parents, Steve and Amy, were in attendance and all of a sudden, I hear Amy asked if I was the one writing all the stories and at first I was a little hesitant because I thought someone was stalking me (joking), but as I introduced myself, she said that she loved my stories and that was so amazing to meet the parents that read, like and retweet my stories and say many positive things about them.

In the end, the Manatees finished the season 16-11 overall with a 5-1 record in the Suncoast and were in first place in conference. I guess in a sense after finishing the sweep with Polk State, we were going to most likely win the Suncoast Conference Regular Season Championship, even if this year happens to be unofficial.

Thanks and Final Thoughts:
To close this post off, I wanted to give my final thoughts and many thanks to the SCF Athletic Department.

The 2019-20 school was actually a pretty good year for SCF athletics and it was quite an adventure despite the early ending. I got to be around so many great athletes that are going to be making names for themselves. On a positive note for the spring sports, the baseball, softball, tennis and beach volleyball players have an opportunity to return for a renewed season should they decide to take the opportunity.

One question that always comes to mind is "Why do I continue writing about a junior college if I don't get paid for it?" I feel the question is a two-way path. On one side, I do it because I love writing about my alma mater. On the other side, I do it to hopefully gain some experience around journalism, which I do every single time I write a story. All-in-all, whether I get paid for it or not, it does not matter to me because I enjoy it.

Sure I still hope that Dr. Carol Probstfeld, the SCF president, creates a position for a sports communication director or something like that, and that is still in the air of discussion for the near future. Until then, all I can do is wait on it and continue doing what I like to do.

Thank you to Matt Ennis and Ms. Loretta Demonte, the SCF athletic director and assistant athletic director, for getting me access to do feature stories, cover the games and getting postgame interviews afterwards for the athletic events, even if I have to write about the losses. I have known Matt for almost 10 years and Ms. Loretta for five and they have done wonderful things for the SCF athletic department. Although it sometimes becomes a habit from time-to-time when I call Matt 'Mr. Ennis', even though I'm not a student there anymore. It's still a good laugh nevertheless.

I want to thank head coach Parks and assistant coaches Rob Beckmann, Nav Gil, Lem Andrews, Ace Whitaker and David Peck for all they did to keep the SCF basketball team on their toes and for the being the first SCF team I did stories on.

Thank you to coach Schuerman and coach Hill for letting me cover their games, even if the seasons were cut short and Suncoast Conference did not commence for softball. I've known Hill since spring 2013 and Schuerman since fall 2014 and they have done wonders for the baseball and softball programs and I hope they keep doing wonders for the teams.

Thank you to a fellow alum in coach Murphy and coach Burnett for helping with the boxscores for the tennis and indoor/beach volleyball matches when I needed them for my recaps. It was incredibly helpful for me even though the matches that were on the road or on neutral grounds.

Thank you to Amy Beckmann for helping get some photos at the basketball games.

Finally, thank you to all the athletes who participated in my feature stories for postgame interviews and took the time to read, like and retweet all the stories when I post them on Twitter as well as the parents that were able to be in attendance and read my stories.

To think, this whole blog started as a school assignment at FGCU and then I chose to expand it from there spring 2017. Come to think of it, doing stories for SCF is quite an amazing adventure because I learn a lot from all the athletes and their backgrounds.

I definitely look forward to seeing the 2020-21 athletic season for SCF and will look forward to writing up more feature stories, schedule releases, previews and recaps.

First Story Links:
SCF VB: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/07/scf-vb-opens-season-santa-fe.html
SCF Basketball: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2018/12/scf-basketball-preview.html
SCF Tennis: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/search/label/SCF%20Tennis?updated-max=2019-03-13T11:31:00-04:00&max-results=20&start=20&by-date=false
SCF Softball: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/01/scf-softball-juco-kickoff-classic.html
SCF Baseball: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/02/scf-baseball-vs-broward-recap.html
SCF BVB: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2020/02/scf-bvb-sets-for-first-road-tri-match.html

Feature Story Links:
Sara Ramirez-Goncalves: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/12/srq-scf-win.html
Brie Botsford: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/12/for-scf-tennis-team-each-player-has.html
Leilani Wilcox-Nanai: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/10/leilanis-volleyball-journey.html
Sydney Jaco: https://thefgcudirtybird.blogspot.com/2019/10/jacos-legacy.html

Other Social Media Posts:
*SCF Basketball: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2972192216138294&set=a.328054693885406&type=3&theater

*SCF Volleyball: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=2619958888028297&set=pb.100000426339316.-2207520000..&type=3&theater

SRG + SCF = WIN

PC: NJCAA

For the SCF tennis team, each player has a different story on how they've grown up around holding a racket in their hands. On the team there are nine players on the team, two sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen. On the last feature story, I did on sophomore Brie Botsford, but now I will choose to do my next feature story on another one of the other SCF tennis team's other returning true sophomore: Sara Ramirez-Goncalves.

Ramirez-Goncalves is a native of Cancun, Mexico that holds citizenship there and in Portugal. Like Botsford, Ramirez-Goncalves began her career at a young age with a legacy and a difficult choice of a sport to stick with.

"When I was younger, I went through a phase were I just wanted to try every sport there was," said Ramirez-Goncalves. "I wanted to find something that I truly enjoyed and after going from one sport to another, when I was 10 years old, I got into tennis. As soon as I started playing, I loved it. I knew that it was the sport that I wanted to play and, in the future, compete. My dad used to play tennis when he was younger and he had participated in state, regional and national tournaments, which somehow also made me want to try it."

While she did continue to play tennis at a competitive level, Ramirez-Goncalves had to battle through many grueling injuries that tried to plague her from continuing to play the sport she loved.

"I had a multiple fracture on my right-foot which according to the doctors required immediate surgery," said Ramirez-Goncalves on battling her injuries. "After that I was not supposed to be playing tennis again at all. As soon as I heard this, I knew that I had to find an alternative. Therefore, I spent 6 months in a cast and other 6 months in rehabilitation in order to fully recover. After this happened, I am more careful and aware of my physical, mental and emotional health. There is nothing more important than your personal well-being."

Ramirez-Goncalves continued to push herself carefully at a competitive level and competed in several International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournaments that helped her get a good enough ranking for her recruiting process for colleges and universities. Ramirez-Goncalves eventually did receive a couple of offers from other colleges and universities, but turned them down because they did not fully convince her to enroll there and then made the move to enroll at SCF.

"I chose SCF because after talking to coach (Chloe) Murphy and getting to know her coaching philosophy and goals I truly believed it was the best option for me."

Upon her arrival to SCF, the first person to give Ramirez-Goncalves a "welcome to SCF" warm welcome was then sophomore Laura Illanes-Rodriguez, in which they had a special bond even prior to SCF as they both played in the same national and international tournaments in Mexico since 2016. In fact, Ramirez-Goncalves and Illanes-Rodriguez were very close than anyone can expect as well as then sophomore Camille "Cami" Portalier. She also gain a strong and close friendship with freshman Karla Menendez as they are both roommates.

"They were the closest with me without a doubt," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her friendships. "I consider both my best friends, and even after they transferred our friendship remains and I know they will always be there for me."

Illanes-Rodriguez ended up transferring to South Carolina Upstate, while Portalier transferred to the University of West Georgia (NCAA DII), but the trio continued to keep their bond strong no matter how distant they are from each other. Aside from Illanes-Rodriguez and Portalier, Ramirez-Goncalves was able to warm up to all of her teammates with positive mixed emotions.

"I was very excited, nervous and happy at the same time to meet all my new teammates, because I wanted to give a good first impression and truly hoped we could become good friends and get along inside and outside the court."

Ramirez-Goncalves continued to feel more welcome at SCF, but when the spring season went underway, she was destined to make a good impression for coach Murphy in her first match against NAIA Southeastern University.

"My first match at SCF was the first match coach Murphy was going to watch me compete," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her first spring match. "I remember I was feeling nervous and excited, because I was finally going to be able to compete after a long time and I also wanted to give a good impression on my performance."

Upon her first match against Southeastern and beginning of the season, Ramirez was placed at #2 doubles and paired up with Portalier while competing at #1 singles before transitioning to #3 singles and #1 doubles for the remainder of the season. Ramirez-Goncalves ended up winning her first doubles match of the spring with Portalier winning by a score of 8-0 against Angelique Myrtil and Gabby Marshall 8-0 at #2 doubles before securing the match point by defeating Sharian Ricardo 6-1, 6-2 at #1 singles.

Yet one of her talked about matches was against St. Pete College (SPC) in which she had a tough going against her opponent in which the Manatees won by a score of 5-4 thanks to her clinching the final point.

"I was playing against an Italian girl called Babi (Barbara Damiani)," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her most talked about match. "That match was the decisive match for the win. The feeling of clinching and getting the win for the team was one of the most exciting and satisfying moments of the season."

While tennis continues to be Ramirez-Goncalves' passion, she does like to do one thing outside of tennis.

"I love going to the beach and watch the sunset," said Ramirez-Goncalves. "I think that the sound of the waves is so relaxing, and at the same time the colors and the view are beautiful."

Even in her most memorable moments, Ramirez-Goncalves reminisces on going to the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament in Tyler, Texas when athletic trainer Kylee Bernthisel and assistant athletic director Loretta DeMonte joined the team, which she said was more enjoyable to have them there to support them.

At the end of the regular season, Ramirez-Goncalves would earn a spot on the Suncoast Conference All-Academic Team before heading to states and reaching as far as the semifinals. After SCF earned an at-large bid to compete in the national tournament as the #5 team in the nation. Ramirez would earn a first-round bye as the #4 seed at the NJCAA Flight 3 Singles and went as far as the semifinals before falling to ASA Miami's Irina Lapustina.

Ramirez-Goncalves ended up finishing her freshman campaign 13-4 in dual singles action and 8-10 in doubles action with Jamal. The Manatees would end up finishing tied for 5th place in the tournament. Ramirez-Goncalves does plan to continue with her tennis career whether as a player or as a coach.

"After SCF my plan is to transfer to a NCAA Division 1 University where I will be able to continue playing tennis collegiately and get my bachelor's degree," said Ramirez-Goncalves on her future. "Tennis is my passion. Therefore, it seems difficult to picture myself not playing at all. If that was the case, there is no doubt that I would still like to involve myself into the tennis industry. I would love to apply for an assistant coach position in a college or university, or for a position to work in management of the USTA (United States Tennis Association), WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) or ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)."

While she does look forward to where her future lies, Ramirez-Goncalves can still focus on preparing for the 2020 spring season and hopefully another trip to the national tournament.

Botsford's Moment

For the SCF tennis team, each player has a different story on how they've grown up around holding a racket in their hands. On the team there are nine players on the team, two sophomores, two redshirt freshmen and five true freshmen.

For this story, I chose to do it on one of the two returning true sophomores, Britain "Brie" Botsford. A native of Delray Beach, Florida, Botsford joined SCF in fall 2018 yet her story of her career in tennis began in her own backyard with a strong tennis background.

"I first got into tennis when I was four years old and it was thanks to my dad," said Botsford. "He decided it would be a good idea to to stick a tennis racket in my hand and I’ve been doing it ever since."

Although she was committed to continue playing, Botsford did go through many obstacles that tried to stop her from playing or continuing to play sport she loved.

"Playing a sport for as long as I have its hard not to. It usually involved past coaches or losing passion. I’m a very stubborn person so no matter what obstacles I faced, I pushed through and it all worked out in the end."

And low and behold she did and continued to push herself harder on a competitive edge to partake in several tennis tournaments like the Orange Bowl and the Eddie Herr Tournament as well as several different national tournament like the Extreme Tennis Academy Tournament.

Despite having several offers to many different colleges and universities, Botsford fell in love with SCF after a campus visit and committed to being a Manatee a couple of days after. Upon her official arrival at SCF, the first person to give her a 'Welcome to SCF' warm welcome was head coach Chloe Murphy. Botsford joined SCF as one of six newcomers and five true freshmen, yet at first she was a little hesitant in the beginning of the season.

"I was scared at first," said Botsford on meeting her new teammates. "I was nervous that we wouldn’t get along, but it couldn’t of worked out any better. I consider them my sisters and couldn’t ask for better teammates."

Right as rain, Botsford warmed up with all of her teammates and was officially placed at the number five singles spot and the number three doubles pairing up primarily with then sophomore Diarra Thomas, yet still having her jitters even in the Manatees season opener against Southeastern University (NAIA). In fact, Botsford wasn't too nervous in her spring season debut.

"I’ve played hundreds of matches so it wasn’t really different, so I was more excited than nervous," said Botsford.

Even though she loves playing tennis, Botsford does have several hobbies she likes to do outside of tennis, even if it was on a strict time frame.

"There’s a lot of hobbies that I have," said Botsford on outside of tennis. "Photography has always been a really big passion of mine. It got to the point where I was considering going to art school for it. Reading is also really big for me, I own a couple hundred books but with tennis and school I haven’t had as much time as I used to. But currently I’ve been really into makeup and been practicing on my teammates practically everyday. "

Botsford did finish 8-10 in singles play and 10-8 in doubles with Thomas her freshman year and went as far as the quarterfinals in both areas at the NJCAA National Tennis Tournament, but even before that Botsford has had her fair share of intense matches during the season she flashed back on as well as memorable moments at SCF, especially when flashing back to their 6-3 win over Broward College and her match against Hillsborough.

"Probably my most talked about match would have to be when I played HCC last spring," said Botsford on one of her matches. "We ended up splitting sets and I won in a tie breaker 11-9. The match lasted over 3 hours. It was one of the toughest matches of my life and took a lot of mental and psychical strength to get through it. The girl ended up winning states and got very far in the draw at nationals. So, it was considered a pretty big win for me."

"I have so many great memories here," Botsford added on her memories. "Honestly anytime I’m with all the girls is a favorite memory, but if I had to pick one it would have to be when we went to Disney World on our day off after winning 2 matches in a row and knocking Broward out of their spot. Or the day we all came back to school and reunited this past August after being away from each other for the entire summer."

While she now prepares for her sophomore campaign and 2020 spring season, Botsford stills plans to continue getting involved with something she loves.

"I plan on going to a division 1 school to continue my tennis career," said Botsford on her future. "I haven’t decided what school yet, but I’m not in a rush. But after college I plan on retiring from tennis and not going pro. I’ve always been so interested in many different career paths, so I’m going to go after one of those. Tennis will always be apart of me, but for me I don’t want to do the same thing for the rest of my life and tennis has been my life/job since I was a kid. I know I want to do something within the publishing or film industry, but I’m not sure exactly what yet."

Wherever Botsford's journey takes her, whether it's in the publishing industry, film industry or on the tennis court, her journey with SCF is not close to being over yet as she continues to push herself this season and looks to help lead the Manatees to another state and national tournament appearance.

Boom, Crash, Splash

The SCF Wave
Top row (from left to right): Suzette Dimas and Jazmine Fuentes
 Second row (from left to right): Terra Jones, Alexa Ayala and Alyssa Brooker
 Third row (from left to right): Fransheska Avilés and Amaris Holliman
Front row: Sabrina Ortiz
Not Pictured: Tamara Kenon, Camila Vargash and Naomi Ortiz

In the beginning of its sports program, SCF relied on all five of their sports: basketball, baseball, volleyball, softball and tennis. The Manatees had constant and reliable support from the fans also known as the SCF Maniacs. Don't ask me why they call themselves that because I don't really know, so it's best to leave well enough alone on that until the next story on it.

But a new group has arrived and continues to make themselves known as the same support as the SCF Maniacs and turned out to be the group known as the SCF Wave.

Who are the SCF Wave and what do they do:
The SCF Wave are a cheerleading/dance team that cheer and dance at many of the SCF basketball games. The group dances to several hip hop and Latin music while getting the SCF Maniacs hyped up with their cheers and dance moves minus the cheerleading outfits.

Each individual has a story behind them where they bring years of experience doing cheerleading, hip hop dancing, gymnastics and everything in between.

How it Began:
The SCF Wave started during the 2018-19 school year with five to six members with the founder and first president of the group Erinn Lee. Currently, Lee now goes Florida Gulf Coast University and has handed down the torch to now president Sabrina Ortiz and co-captain Naomi Ortiz. Now the team has expanded from five to girls to 11 to 12.


"Erinn (Lee) decided to create something that was originally at SCF and she wanted to bring a dance and cheer element to SCF," said Sabrina Ortiz. "She and I are best friends and we grew up dancing together."

"The Wave is not a mandatory, it's by choice if they want to come," said Ortiz on the expansion. "Basically what we did was create posters and post them all around the school and all over social media to spread the word for people to join, mainly girls."

The team meets up every Monday and Wednesday and practice for two hours.

"What we basically do within the practices is go over the fundamentals of how you would start a dance class or how you start cheers," said Ortiz on the practices. "We go through body exercises and body warmups as well as doing the same thing with vocals."

The Wave officially began during the 2018-19 SCF basketball season and going in, Ortiz did not have any cheerleading experience, but Naomi did after doing cheerleading for two years.

"With the exception of Naomi, none of has any cheerleading experience," said Ortiz. "But I did for Erinn because she wanted to get the team/club going and we both were kind of uneasy about it because we never did it before and kept asking ourselves 'how are we going to do this?' Naomi was like 'I don't think I want to do this anymore Sabrina' and I told her that we just got to look at this as another form of dance because well-rounded dancers can do anything so why can't we do cheer as well. Low and behold that's where it started. We kept coming to practices and having so much fun at the games. Naomi and I just fell in love with the atmosphere and watching the basketball team play well and being involved with big groups of people."

"One of the main reasons I did this was I missed dancing," said Naomi Ortiz. "It was another way to keep doing what I like to do and have been doing since I was little."

Ortiz mentioned a moment where the team got to travel to see the basketball team play in Tampa and are hoping to travel again by the second half of this season, but in order to do so they need to raise funds and get a van to travel instead of using their own personal vehicles for transportation. The Wave did actually do a fundraiser at St. Armands Circle in Sarasota.

"We just walked around and told people who we are and how were trying to raise money for our team to get uniforms and transportation," said Ortiz on the recent fundraiser. "They even asked if we can do some cheers for them which we did."

The SCF Wave still plan to plan more fundraisers in the near future, while the Ortiz family continues to pass on the torch after they enroll at FGCU to join Lee.

"Every girl I've worked with has a lot of potential to be the next president of the Wave," said Sabrina Ortiz. "I would like to see more because I think it can happen in another semester, so we don't know who will be in charge of the team to take over for me and Naomi once we head to FGCU."

Both Sabrina and Naomi will still be helping out the Wave for part of the 2020-21 school year due to her major, but it may not be one of Sabrina's main priorities fall 2020 and hopes that the team will continue with possible scholarship opportunities and making it an official team. The Wave will also plan to do cheer and dance for next volleyball season.

"I'm just hoping they'll do more events for us to continue running the Wave," said Naomi Ortiz.

My Thoughts:
I first met the original group of members including the founder last school and they all gave it 100% maximum effort to get the team hyped up and the Maniacs on their feet to keep cheering for the basketball and volleyball team.

Thinking about this story while I wrote reminds of how I did a story on the FGCU cheerleaders and how they got little to no credit for getting the Dirty Birds hyped up and they were considered and arguably the SCF Wave are also considered athletes.

How you may ask? Well it's simple: If you can run, jump, flip, do any kind of gymnastics or dance, then you are an athlete because you keep moving and that's what the SCF Wave does, they keep moving. I hope that the SCF Wave continues to do what they're doing and will make it an official part of the SCF athletics family.

If you want to know more about the SCF Wave, follow them on Twitter and Instagram:
Twitter: @SCFWave
Instagram: @SCFwave8