Ward and Leopards Sweep Scrappy Sharks

The Hernando Leopards (7-2) downed the Nature Coast Tech Sharks (5-5) in three sets on the road on Wednesday night. Coach Robin Bailey and company took advantage of their cross-town trek, and the home team fought hard to stay within striking range throughout the evening.

“Nature Coast is a great team,” Coach Bailey said. “They always have been. I want to say props to them. They’re a scrappy team. I wanted [our girls] to communicate. They seemed a little flat tonight but came together in the end.”

Despite winning in the first three frames, the Sharks did not simply overwhelm Head Coach Emily Gore’s Leopards. The visitors took the sets by 25-22, 25-22, and 25-23 margins respectively. Each frame had their tense stretches where the victor was in doubt and others where Hernando appeared to be running away with the evening.

“There were moments where it felt like it was about to really fall apart, but then the girls would battle back, and they fought,” Coach Gore said. “So, that’s one of the losses you can feel proud about because they kept fighting.”

In the opening period, the Purple and Gold stretched their lead to 10-5 early on but found themselves trailing 17-14 minutes later. This was thanks in part to a bevy of miscues by the Leopards and a couple key scores blasted by Sharks’ Senior OH Addy Carpenter. Then Hernando Senior OH Kaiya Ward took over as she would all night. Ward scored 4 of her team’s final 11 points and a total of 9 points in the first frame (6 kills, 3 aces).

“Oh, Kaiya Ward, she’s awesome,” said Coach Bailey. “She’s the leader of the team. When she gets fired up, she’s always on, and she is. She’s a heck of a player. She’s been playing since she was little – beach ball. She’s going to [Eastern Kentucky University]. So, she’s awesome.”

The second stanza played out much in the same way with the visitors jumping out to a 15-7 advantage before the Sharks chomped back to a three-point loss as the mistakes mounted for both sides. After the Columbia Blue tied the score at 21-all, Bailey Poe, Cordelia Blevins, Lillian Jernigan, and Ward each scored a point to outscore the home team 4-1 at the end. Ward contributed a total of 8 points (6 kills, 1 ace) to her team’s set 2 victory.

“We definitely got to work better with communication,” the Leopards’ coach said. “When we get flat, we stay flat. I need to figure out how we can stay pumped up, let that go and move onto the next one, and then not so many mistakes.”

Coach Bailey’s squad would jump out to multiple leads of 5 or 6 points throughout the final frame, but the Sharks would battle back yet again to trail by a single score at the match point. However, coming out of a timeout, Nature Coast’s comeback hopes would be doomed by a serve into the net. Ward would give her team another 8 points in the victory. Following her team’s loss, the Sharks’ coach discussed what she would like to address with her team moving forward.

“Just a little bit of everything like little situational stuff,” said Coach Gore. “Obviously, the game ended on a game point serve error on our part. Obviously, that can’t happen. Serve receive can always be better, but the girls fought, and they stayed up, they stuck together. So, I’m proud of that.”

Nature Coast will hope to get back on track when they take on the River Ridge Royal Knights on Friday. The Leopards will look to commit fewer miscues themselves and continue building momentum when they host Bishop McLaughlin on the same night.