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© St. Petersburg Times, published September 25, 2002
TAMPA -- One of four seniors for The Cambridge School, Meagan Van Ost knows all about the rivalry with the Bayshore Christian Faith Warriors.
She had seen the Lancers manage only one victory over their Bay Conference and Class A, District 10 foes during the past five seasons.
Van Ost made sure that number doubled Tuesday. The co-captain served out both games, rallying the Lancers to a 17-15, 15-11 victory. Cambridge (9-2) overcame six-point deficits in each game to win its fourth consecutive match and second of the day. The Lancers also beat Indian Rocks Christian 10-15, 15-7, 15-13. The Golden Eagles beat Bayshore Christian 15-10, 15-10. The Faith Warriors (7-4) have lost four in a row.
"We're all good friends (with Bayshore Christian), but they're our rivals. And we really wanted to beat them," said Van Ost, who led Cambridge with 12 service points, eight during the second game.
"Once we got the momentum and self-motivation, the team came through."
Down 11-8 in the second game, Van Ost served seven consecutive points to close out the match.
In the first game, Cambridge trailed 15-14 when Van Ost served three consecutive points. Betsy Brown's kill ended the game.
Cambridge first-year coach Kevin Reynolds said he wasn't surprised by his team's comeback.
"So far this year, we always seem to get down and then fight back," he said. "But if we keep pulling them out, we'll be fine."
Bayshore Christian, which has four sophomores and two eighth-graders, lost leads of 12-6 in the first game and 6-0 in the second.
"The team just hasn't learned how to capitalize when it has the lead," coach Melanie Humenansky. "I hate to use the excuse that we're young and inexperienced, but that's where we are.
"It's a matter of them learning the mentality of the game."