2008 Woodie Awards
Volleyball Team Shifts Momentum in Their Favor During Week of Play
Juan Bernal
Issue date: 11/4/05 Section: Sports
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The Tars had the chance to build on the momentum that they built in the South Region Tournament and improve on regional (5th in the South) and conference mark (6, heading into the week).
On Tuesday, the Tars hosted the Florida Tech Panthers, who came in ranked 8th in the Sunshine State Conference. This was a huge game for the Tars, who needed a conference win to move up in the standings. To start the match, it was the Panthers who came in the aggressor and took advantage of the Tars slow start.
They won the first set 31-29, despite a strong rally from the Tars late in the game. In the second set the Tars got it together and won the second set 30-26. In the third set the teams split the first 26 points of the game. Then the Tars offense shifted into another gear, and used a 7-1 to dispatch the Panthers 30-23 and take a set lead. In the fourth set, it looked like the Panthers would force this into a winner take all fifth set, taking a 21-11 lead.
With the Tars' backs against the wall, that's when they found their A game. The Tars used their admirable offense and their impenetrable defense to build a 19-9 run and close out the game and match 29-31, 30-26, 30-23 and 30-28. The aforementioned Tars defense was tough as nails racking up 84 team digs.
They were led by Julia Caner who had 21 digs. Kim Cline and Amy Barlow contributed 20 and 14 digs respectively. Offensively, the Tars had four players in double figures. Amy Barlow and Julia Caner each had 16 digs. Christina Reinders had 15 kills and Lorena Orlandini added 13. Freshman setter Lacey Malarky had 53 assists to pace the Tars offense.
Thursday night the Tars would make the one hour bus ride to Lakeland to face arch-rival Florida Southern. Florida Southern came with a momentum swing that would make famous physicist Isaac Newton jealous. They were ranked 2nd in the conference, 10th nationally and had a 15 match winning streak. The Tars were looking for some revenge after the Mocs' handed them their worse loss of the season at home on September 21. The Mocs' also had won 19 out of 20 matches against the Tars. At the beginning of the match, the Mocs' raucous crowd was wild and ready for some action.