Article by Alice Mary Herden
Photography by Alice Mary Herden and Betty Kolar
After Springstead’s win against River Ridge on Monday for the 5A District 5 quarter-finals, the Eagles proceeded to play Lecanto, slotted in the number 2 spot within the 5A District.
Springstead lost to Lecanto 25-17 | 25-19 | 25-20 in the 5A District 5 semi-finals.
Tuesday’s 4A District 6 Semi-Finals held at Nature Coast Tech brought many cheers and a few tears.
Weeki Wachee started with a close competitive win of the first set; however, Hudson focused harder and moved forward to the championships.
Weeki Wachee lost to Hudson 3-1: 23-25 | 25-20 | 25-20 | 25-23
“We’ve built a pretty strong program with these girls, and for every season they’ve had made it through to their rounds, but last night was just one of those nights. We have a lot of errors,” said Kelly Werkmeister head coach for Weeki Wachee. “His (Hudson head coach Stephen Jones) team that came out, they played a little bit more error-free volleyball than we did. It was the errors that took us out of that game.”
Nature Coast Tech defeated Hernando: 25-20 | 25-17 | 25-21
All the teams in Hernando County worked hard toward districts. In September, Nature Coast Tech’s volleyball coach Emily Gore said, “… we would love to have back to back districts championships.”
When Hernando took on Nature Coast Tech both teams played their best, but Hernando couldn’t get a rhythm.
“Nature Coast has a fast-paced (team). They were very good. We just couldn’t keep up with them,” Hernando head coach Robin Bailey said. “You try your best, and you move on.”
Nature Coast Tech takes on Hudson Thursday night @ 7 pm fighting for the District Championship title. The Sharks have successfully acquired two wins against the Cobras during the regular season, so there may be a bigger competition ahead for Nature Coast Tech.
“We’ve just done the same thing we’ve done all year, nothing special,” Gore said. “We’ve got one day to prepare and figure some things out and continue to be the team that we are, and we’ll be fine.”
