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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 10, 2002
The Super Seven
With last week's ranking in parenthesis
1. Clearwater (1): The Tornadoes are cruising but will get a tough test this weekend at the Tampa Bay Invitational.
2. East Lake (2): Okay, so the Eagles have lost four of their past five. That hardly rates as futility considering the losses came against ranked teams.
3. Seminole (3): Last week the Warhawks exacted revenge against Northeast. Next week Seminole tries to avenge a loss to another district counterpart, Boca Ciega.
4. Countryside (4): The Cougars' success hinges on the health of star player Beverly Stasis. The junior outside hitter had a migraine in the championship match of a tournament last week and an arm injury before Tuesday's match against Clearwater. Countryside lost both.
5. Northeast (5): After losing two in a row, the Vikings will try to get on track this week by wrapping up the No. 1 seed in the district with a win over Boca Ciega on Friday.
6. Tarpon Springs (6): The up-and-down season continues. A week after two district losses, the Spongers got a big two-game victory over Hudson on Monday.
7. Boca Ciega (7): The Pirates have been winning lately. To keep it going, they'll have to beat Northeast.
1. Andrea Kmet, Indian Rocks Christian: The junior middle hitter had a big match against Northside Christian last week. In three games, Kmet had 14 kills, 4 blocks, 5 service aces and 7 assists.
2. Ann Saksefski, Canterbury: The only senior starter, Saksefski helped the Crusaders to a fourth-place finish at a tournament in Fort Myers last weekend and was named to the all-tournament team along with teammate Ashley Pollard.
3. Allison Kidman, Tarpon Springs: The sophomore setter had 36 assists two weeks ago against Seminole and had a big match in Monday's victory over Hudson. She is the daughter of former coach Carol Kidman.
4. Pam Berndt, Clearwater: A captain and one of two senior starters, Berndt had a big night against Countryside on Tuesday. Using her jump serve, Berndt scored the first five points of the match.
5. Candace Durkin, Countryside: The sophomore setter continues to improve and is one of the team leaders in service aces.
Tarpon Springs coach Monica Wilson never knows which team will show up for each match.
Will it be the one that handed Class 4A, No. 10 River Ridge its only loss and snapped Seminole's county-best, nine-match win streak with a three-game victory?
Or will it be the one that allowed second-game leads of 10-4 and 13-8 to disappear against the Royal Knights?
"Sometimes we play great," Wilson said. "Other times, not so great. The biggest thing we're struggling with right now is consistency."
When Tarpon Springs is on, it can be a formidable opponent. Against the Warhawks, setter Allison Kidman had 36 assists. Most of her sets went to Erika Siauciunas, who led all players with 17 kills.
"We can play very well," Wilson said. "We just need to do it all the time."
In her third year with the program, Clearwater coach Lynn Hallmark has a roster good enough to be mentioned in the same breath as the 1997 and 2000 state title teams.
If the Tornadoes are indeed special, this week's schedule gives them a chance to prove it.
This weekend, Clearwater, ranked No. 3 in the Class 5A state poll, travels to Tampa Prep to play in the Tampa Bay Invitational. On Friday, the Tornadoes play Class 2A No. 2 Gainesville P.K. Yonge, Class 6A No. 2 Venice and Class 5A No. 4 Durant.
The tournament continues with bracket play starting at 1 p.m. The championship match is at 4:45.
"It's a lot of the same teams we saw at the East Coast Challenge a few weeks ago," Hallmark said. "It's a good tournament and it comes at a good time during the season, right before districts."
With six freshmen and one junior last season, Canterbury coach Dave Smith knew his team would take some lumps. Sure enough, the Crusaders did, losing all 14 of their district matches.
But the experience allowed Smith to realize the underclassmen had a promising future.
That potential has been realized the past two weeks. Canterbury is 10-6 and has beaten five teams -- Bradenton St. Stephen's, Sarasota Out-of-Door Academy, Sarasota Christian, Keswick Christian and Northside Christian -- that Smith had never beaten in four years as coach.
"Coaches always talk about getting over the hump and I think we're starting to do that," Smith said. "We're right there in contention for the district title."
-- Compiled by Bob Putnam.