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Fourth shot at Nease brings district title

By Ray DiMonda Correspondent
Posted 10/24/18

MIDDLEBURG – With 34 years under her belt, Middleburg High volleyball coach Carrie Prewitt thinks she has something special in her team this season, and they proved it at home Thursday night as the …

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Fourth shot at Nease brings district title


Posted

MIDDLEBURG – With 34 years under her belt, Middleburg High volleyball coach Carrie Prewitt thinks she has something special in her team this season, and they proved it at home Thursday night as the team brought home the district 3-7A title and trophy with a 3-1 win over their nemesis Nease High Panthers. With the win, Middleburg (15-11) reversed last year’s district final; won by Nease. Nease would eventually lose in the region semifinal to Ocala Vanguard. Middleburg lost in the quarterfinal to Ocala Vanguard who made the region final before losing to eventual 7A champion Choctowhatchee High. Middleburg has lost to Vanguard in the region playoffs the past two years with Prewitt last winning a district title (3-6A) in 2015.

“They (Nease) beat us three times this season,” said Prewitt, who will host Ocala Forest (17-8), the district 4-7A runnerup on Wed., Oct. 24. “They (Nease) are such a good team and it’s been such a tough battle every time we get on the court. We knew it could go either way so we just had to stay on course and our kids played really well and they were ready for this match.”

The Bronco gym was packed and the “corner crazies” were in full out mode. “Having those kids over in the corner was huge,”said Prewitt. “It was such a big thing for us. Anytime you have a fanbase like that it’s part of the package that pumps the girls up.”

In game one, the Broncos would push out to a seven point lead at 10 and again at 19 before Nease went on a roll and closed it up to 23-20.

Of note were several digs by Mikayla Simmons and Tonee Hughes which helped her team stay out in front. The Broncos got to match point at 24 and Nease closed again 24-21 before the Broncos finally put it away 25-21.

Game two, Nease would stay tied through 9-9, then open to a five point lead 15-20. The Broncos closed it to two points 18-20, then one point 22-23 before Nease would get the last two points and take game two 23-25.

In Game three, the Broncos made one heck of a statement that they were not going to go quietly. After opening the lead to 12-7, they moved to 18-12 and that was the last points Nease would get in that game. The Broncos went on a seven unanswered point roll to close down the Panthers 25-12 when the Panthers hit the ball out of bounds to stop themselves.

When asked if the blow out was a concern during the match, Prewitt said “No not really because we’ve been in the opposite position before, so we understand the momentum of the game and we knew we would have to start fast. We’ve been working on that all season long, getting out on the court and get out quick because we’re kind of a slow starting team. We’ve really worked on that and it showed.”

Game four looked more like game two with the teams trading blows to one another with the score even at 8-8, then 16-16 before the Broncos added another 3 unanswered points going up 19-16.

“Nease had a very hard time getting momentum, and our girls just kept fighting the good fight and it helped us take the game over,” said Prewitt.

The Broncos would run it to 24-21 on a touch drop by Britany Range, where Nease was expecting a spike. Nease would close it to 24-22 before Mallory Roney would get set up and spiked the ball for the final kill and a Middleburg win 3-1 and the title.

“The great thing this win does is we get to play at home next week so that’s a huge advantage for us and we get to play the other district’s runner up, so we have another really tough battle on Wednesday next week,” said Prewitt.