Durant volleyball shows growth in win over Steinbrenner

LUTZ — During last year's rocky season, Durant coach Jeff Davis kept telling his young team it would learn from its losses.

Through a 19-loss campaign the Cougars dodged no one, playing a schedule that included the eventual state champions in the state's four largest classifications — including 6A champ Plant (twice) and 3A titlist Berkeley Prep.

It meant a lot of long bus rides home.

In Tuesday's regular-season opener against one of the county's top teams, the Cougars showed those matches paid off, going across the county to beat Steinbrenner 25-22, 25-23, 25-21.

"We took it on the chin last year," Davis said. "We played everybody we could. Now in the second year, we're all better because of it."

Durant rallied in the final two sets, trailing 20-17 in the second game and 19-17 in the third.

"In years past if we would have gotten that far behind, we probably would have let them get ahead and beat us," Cougars senior outside hitter Alison Wade said. "We would have beaten ourselves with our attitude. We're turning it around and staying positive and working hard so that when they get up, we can fight back."

Wade led Durant with a team-high 12 kills, including the last three of the second set and the final putaway of the match.

"When we won the first two games last year, we never came back to win the third game, so I wanted to win the third game," Wade said. "Last year, when it became a tight match we couldn't pull through, so this year we're trying to be different and we're trying to pull through every game."

Durant senior Kerrie Reinhardt added nine kills, senior libero Katlyn Messick had 18 digs and junior setter Taylor Hackemack, a Mississippi State commit, had 25 assists.

Junior outside hitter Kristen Liguori had a match-high 15 kills for Steinbrenner, and libero Cary Anne Bame added 11 digs.

"We all agreed as coaches that we got better throughout the match," Steinbrenner coach Staci Elias said. "It's a great opener. When you lose a match by nine points, you can't walk away too disappointed."

The teams could meet this weekend in the Gatortown Classic Tournament in Gainesville in a field that includes Plant and Tampa Prep.