Benjamin swept in 4A final
JACKSONVILLE — The closing sequence to Benjamin’s volleyball state title game — and the Buccaneers’ season — captured Thursday afternoon in a nutshell.
The team was down by two sets but up 20-17 in the third. Tampa Carrollwood had a kill to gain the serve, and then the Patriots never let it go. Carollwood served out the match with eight successive points, closing its Class 4A state-title run with an ace for a 25-22, 25-19, 25-20 victory in a three-set sweep at UNF Arena.
The Bucs (16-4) came up short in the title game for a second consecutive season, this time rueing lost leads in all three sets.
“They came ready to win, and we couldn’t quite match that intensity level,” Benjamin coach Alex Clarke said. “Finishing matches has been a struggle for us. Having a big lead, it’s almost like we get comfortable and relax and we don’t have the intensity to bring it back. I think it was losing a little focus. It’s nothing we haven’t practiced; it’s just maybe they went a little harder.”
Clarke praised the Patriots (25-2), winners of 21 in a row, for their ability to close and added she was proud of her team, which overcame the loss of four starters from last season to return to the title game after falling in the state final to Orlando First Academy last season.
Despite the added desire to get the first elusive state title in school history, they came up a bit short again.
“We really wanted to come back because it was sour after last year,” said Benjamin senior Lauren Lindahl, who earned praise from Carrollwood coach Eric Praetorius for her play at libero.
But the problem was finishing the Patriots. The Bucs were ahead 13-11 in the first set but gave up four consecutive points and never regained the lead. In the second set, Benjamin lost 6-1 and 7-2 leads, getting tied at 10 and again never retaking the edge.
“I felt like we all needed to keep pushing,” said Benjamin sophomore Ellie Blain, who led her team with eight kills. “You looked around and see almost everyone’s realizing we might not have this.”
Finally, in the third set, the Bucs battled back from a three-point deficit to claim the 20-17 lead. But Ally-Reese Williams knocked down a kill and then stepped back to serve out the match, burying three aces among the contest’s final seven points, including the championship-clincher.
Carrollwood, which had seniors who had lost in the 2014 title game, was not about to let that slip away.
As the Patriots built off that loss, so can the Bucs build off the past two seasons. Five seniors, including Lindahl, will be lost. But the nucleus of key players includes four juniors and six sophomores, among them Heather Sley, who added four kills.