LAKELAND — Jensen Beach didn’t have to wait long to win its second state volleyball championship.
Two years after the Falcons won the program’s first title, they did it again, beating Fort Myers 26-24, 25-21, 25-11 to win the Class 4A championship Saturday at the Lakeland Center in just their second Final Four appearance.
Jensen Beach also set a school-record number of wins with a 27-5 finish.
“I don’t care what it looks like from outside the court, but it is very hard to win a state championship,” Falcons coach Mike Sawtelle said. “The teams you play on a nightly basis can beat you on any given day. We played so well (Friday) and so well today. ... We have 14 girls on our roster, and everyone is a part of this because in practice, we play hard against each other and it all paid off in the end.”
Senior middle hitter Brittany Tiegs ended the match on an ace and the Falcons paused a moment in amazement before rushing to the center of the court, hugging and high-fiving each other, while their fans clapped and cheered.
The title makes two for the Martin County School District this year after the Martin County Tigers won the Class 5A championship on Thursday.
“It’s indescribable,” said Tiegs, one of six players who also were a part of the 2007 championship.
Although Jensen Beach made the match look easy by sweeping Fort Myers (28-5) in three games, the first game was a battle to the end.
After a long rally at match point for Jensen Beach, Tiegs finally spiked the ball down on the Green Wave side of the court and the Falcons started celebrating until the Fort Myers crowd erupted in cheers. The officials ruled the hit a carry, which instead tied the game at 24.
Sawtelle called timeout so the Falcons could re-group, and sophomore right-side hitter Allie Bradley and senior middle hitter Molly Alexander scored the next two points on kills to end the game.
“We thought the game was over, and we had to do it again,” Sawtelle said. “We’ve said in the past, ‘Win the game twice if you have to.’ That’s what we did.”
Special Thanks to TCPalm.com for this posting.
With this posting we now close the chapetr in the 2009 High school season (Girls and Coaches: Give yourselves a hand) and now we open the chapter towards the 2009-2010 club season. Hope to see ya in a Tri-County Tournament.
1 comment:
Great reporting this year! Really appreciate all the hard work in what is almost a one-man job! Looking forward to your club articles and will cooperate with my daughter's team reporting and pictures!
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