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District volleyball: Young Berkeley Prep finds its stride

 
Published Oct. 16, 2018

TAMPA — It's been more than two decades since Berkeley Prep missed the state playoffs in girls volleyball, but in a Class 5A-9 district quarterfinal Monday, the Bucs, matched with a Tampa Catholic team that defeated them the first match of the season, faced the very real possibility that their streak might come to an end.

Berkeley Prep coach Mackenzie Tichenor wasn't worried. After all, the team that took the court against the Crusaders Monday night wasn't the same one that did it nearly two months ago.

"Honestly, I think it's confidence. We have a super young team, as everybody knows, and the first match we played against a good team," Tichenor said about the biggest difference between then and now. "For us, it was just growing in confidence and growing in our own shoes."

That growth appeared to be just what the Bucs needed.

Behind a standout performance from freshman outside hitter Ava Swain, the Bucs took early leads against Tampa Catholic in all three sets and never let go, cruising to a 3-0 (25-20, 25-17, 25-17) victory.

Both Swain and Tichenor agreed that Berkeley Prep (11-13) — which hasn't finished the season with a losing record since long before Tichenor herself was a high school student playing for the Bucs — benefited Monday by the experience its gained since the last meeting with the Crusaders, Swain also admitted that the strategy was simple: they needed to take Tampa Catholic's star outside hitter Elissa Alcantara out of the game.

Alcantara, who came into the match with a team-high 321 kills, still got hers against the Bucs on Monday, particularly towards the end of the first set, when the Crusaders (14-12) rallied from 11 points down to close the gap. But as the night wore on, the Bucs continued to focus on defending her strikes, and it paid off.

"We really just focused on defending (Alcantara) because she's such a strong hitter," Swain said. "We had a game plan going in defending her back row attack and her outside hit. We just really defended that well."

And while Alcantara was somewhat silenced, Swain ran the court for the Bucs.

The 6-foot-1 freshman finished the match with a team-high 11 kills, while Natalie Bono had nine and Ruby Agholor chipped in eight. Swain also added a solo block and a service ace late in the second set, helping the Bucs finish it on a 6-0 run.

The Bucs, who finished 2-4 in the district, still have to win one more district tournament game in order to extend their playoff streak to 24 years. For a team that has played in 119 tournament matches — second most in the state — going through growing pains can be tough when the pressure to succeed remains.

But, Tichenor said, she's stuck with the same lesson for her girls all season long.

"The big message has been, even if we're young, which we are, and even if sometimes we might not have confidence in ourselves," Tichenor said, "as long as you try and you play as hard as you can and you give as much effort as you can, skill will come along."