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GREG AUMANThe Wildcats dictate the action in a 3-1 victory and gain confidence that they can make it back to the playoffs.
WESLEY CHAPEL - Hudson came in undefeated in Class 4A, District 10, knowing its next win would lock down a first-round tournament bye and a regular-season title.
The Cobras will likely end up with both, but Wesley Chapel wasn't going to give either to them Thursday night.
The Wildcats ended Hudson's 13-match winning streak with a 28-26, 19-25, 25-23, 25-18 victory.
"This is the biggest win we've had all year," said Wesley Chapel coach Julie Marks, whose team is third in the district standings. "They really stepped it up. This was a very different team from Tuesday. This is really the team we have."
Tuesday was a loss to second-place Ridgewood, all but ending the Wildcats' chances of getting one of the district's first-round byes. Instead, Wesley Chapel will have to win one more game to return to the state playoffs, but now the Wildcats have confidence they can play with anyone in the district.
"It's a big win, so it feels really nice," said Brenna Lane, who had five of her 12 kills in the final game. "I feel like we really came together as a team tonight."
Hudson (14-2, 7-1) hadn't lost since its third match of the season, but the Cobras were outplayed, allowing the Wildcats to dictate the action from the start.
Wesley Chapel (13-4, 6-3) needed six game points to clinch the opening game, winning it on a service error and hitting error by Hudson. The Cobras rebounded to win the second game, but Wesley Chapel won a close third game, getting the last point on a kill by Meagan Edwards.
The Cobras opened the fourth game with a 6-0 lead, but after Marks called a timeout, the Wildcats went on a 10-1 run and never looked back.
"I just told them we could do it - it's only 6-0 and you need 25 points to get the match," said Marks, who also got 12 kills from Lauren Valdez. "5-0 is nothing. It's peanuts."
Jessica Borrello led the Cobras with 13 kills, but Hudson had fewer kills than Wesley Chapel in every game, relying on Wildcats errors for too many points.
"We weren't in harmony on the court," Cobras coach Linda McQuade said. "We were off-beat. We weren't capitalizing on the other team's errors."
Marks said the biggest difference between Thursday and the teams' first meeting was Wesley Chapel's defense, especially at the net, which was a weakness the last time the Wildcats saw Hudson.
"Our first match against Hudson, we got blocked out of the gym," she said. "We've been working on block coverage every single practice, and it was much better tonight."