"Just being able to have our main lineup play and run different offensive systems was phenomenal," said head coach Lynn Burnett. "Our defensive coverage and serving was spot on and did a great job picking up on the tip. We talked about being aggressive on our serving game as an opportunity to take over the service line with no mercy. We were trying to find every opportunity to press and take them (St. Pete) apart and we embodied it. We did struggle a little bit in the beginning, but then dialed in and found it to get us the win."

 

"I think our team did so well and play a big part in each set," said sophomore Katie Keefe. "We showed a lot of resilience after losing to them. (St. Pete) earlier in the season and recovering from a losing streak, so we did a lot of work to get back to our winning ways, which was good for us."

 

"I thought it was a good match overall" said freshman Elise Bakken. "I was a little worried because some of us were not feeling 100%, but we definitely showed how capable we were today."

 

"I thought we did really well overall as a team," said sophomore Rachel Carroll. "We were consistent on eliminating a lot of errors, which is essential in volleyball, and the communication was key where no one felt confused and that helped us out a lot."

 

The first set was a little rocky for the Manatees as the Lady Titans creeped up on them and tied the set, but kills from Keefe and sophomore Caelan Cook and two straight aces from freshman Alanna McCaughey kept the Manatees offense moving. The Manatees would then seal the first set after back-to-back sideout kills by Keefe and an ace by sophomore Amee Beedle.

 

Heading into the second set, the Manatees went on two of their biggest runs this season. After Cook served, the Manatees would start with kills from freshmen Teresa Briefeneder and Aleksandra Wrobel and an ace by Cook gave the Manatees a 7-1 lead before the Lady Titans called a timeout.

 

After the timeout, the Lady Titans would get their second point off of a service error before Wrobel bounced back with a kill. Once Wrobel started serving, with the Manatees up 8-2, their second run of points would be increasingly effective as they went on a 7-0 run after two Lady Titan attack errors, an ace and kill by Wrobel and three kills by Briefeneder put the Manatees up 15-2 before the Lady Titans used their final timeout.

 

After a ball-handling error by the Lady Titans and an ace by Wrobel, the Lady Titans would end the 9-0 Manatees run with a kill, but a double block by Beedle and Briefeneder and a kill by freshman Katrina Tallo would make it 20-4 SCF. The Lady Titans would take two more points before kills by Briefeneder and sophomore Emily Lyons sealed the second set.

 

"Thrilling is the best way to describe how dominant we were in that set," said Burnett on the second set. "It was so exciting players like Emily (Lyons) to go in and get her first kill in conference play and get the chance to go over some serve receive attempts and correct any mistakes made and that was huge. Even seeing Bella (Rebimbas) get in the third set and abuse the block and she did a great job for that."

 

Heading into the third and final set, the Manatees started off strong and remained in control throughout the set, despite a couple of minor hiccups before back-to-back aces by Beedle kept the Manatees back in control before Tallo sealed the match with a kill to end the match.

 

Keefe would lead the way offensively as she finished with nine kills and one block.

 

"I felt really good," said Keefe. "I thought we were all clinical and did our jobs. We showed a lot of strengths to get our retribution."

 

Briefeneder would follow with six kills, one dig and two blocks, while Wrobel rounded out the order with five kills, two aces, one assist and four digs.

 

In setting, Bakken and freshman Morgan McGuire lead the way. Bakken would finish with. 12 assists, one ace and five digs, while McGuire finished with 11 assists, two aces and nine digs.

 

"I felt okay," said Bakken. "I felt like I didn't play my best, but I fought through it."

 

Defensively, Carroll would lead with nine digs and one assist, while Beedle followed with eight digs to go along with three kills, three aces and two blocks.

 

"I felt really good on the court," said Carroll. "I thought my confidence was good and I was very calm with a lot of positivity, which helped us out big time."

 

McCaughey (two aces, one assist and four digs), Tallo (two kills, one assist and one solo block), Cook (three kills, two aces and one dig), Lyons (one kill and one dig) and sophomores Bailee Perry (one dig) and Isabella Rebimbas (two kills) also contributed in the match.

 

Other Sun Lakes Scores:

South Florida State (3-9, 1-8 Sun Lakes South) fell to Santa Fe College (5-13, 1-6 Citrus) by a score of 3-1.

 

Lake Sumter State (11-8, 6-4 Sun Lakes North) defeated RV St. John's River State (18-9, 6-4 Sun Lakes North) 3-1.

 

Sun Lakes Conference Standings:

North - 

1. #7 Pensacola State (21-1, 9-0)

2. #14 Gulf Coast State (11-3, 7-2)

3. RV St. John's River State (18-9, 6-4)

4. Lake Sumter State (11-8, 6-4)

5. Florida State College at Jacksonville (4-11, 2-6)

 

South - 

1. Pasco Hernando State (9-8, 5-4)

2. SCF (9-6, 5-5)

3. Palm Beach State (4-13, 4-5)

4. South Florida State (3-9, 1-8)

5. St. Pete (1-11, 1-8)

 

Up Next:

The Manatees will play in their final road match of the regular as they will travel to Avon Park to take on South Florida State Saturday afternoon, October 7 at 1 pm. They will look to complete their first complete sweep in conference.