For the third weekend this fall, a hurricane led to schedule changes for the county's two colleges.
Jeanne canceled Saturday's Saint Leo-Barry soccer games for men's and women's teams from those Sunshine State Conference rivals.
When Barry's teams did not make the trip from Coral Gables, Warner Southern filled in to play the Saint Leo men's squad.
Additionally, a third hurricane making landfall in Florida (including Charley in August and Frances in September) caused two of five volleyball teams to withdraw from the Pasco-Hernando Community College Invitational.
With Palm Beach CC and Indian River CC out of the picture, PHCC, Miami-Dade and Kishwaukee (Ill.) played a round-robin series Friday and Saturday with Miami-Dade playing on Friday only.
"We're glad we still got some games in; glad Miami-Dade made it out here," PHCC coach Kim Whitney said.
That sentiment could not be expressed by Whitney after the Conquistadors' 0-3 tournament record. PHCC lost 3-0 to defending national champion Miami-Dade before 3-1 and 3-0 losses to Kishwaukee.
PHCC, which opened the season with six straight wins, tried to snap its three-game skid late Tuesday at Hillsborough. The Conquistadors entered 10-5, 4-1 in the Suncoast Conference.
CONFERENCE SPLIT: The Saint Leo volleyball team had a strong start in the Sunshine State Conference with Thursday's 3-1 win over Eckerd. Friday's 3-0 loss to eighth-ranked Tampa left the Lions 7-10, 1-1 in the SSC.
"The 7-10 record is not how you want to begin the season, but we've played some tough teams already," Saint Leo coach Sam Cibrone said, including top 25 teams Armstrong Atlantic (Ga.) and Augustana (S.D.) in the mix. "Hopefully, that will get us ready for the conference.
The Lions have three SSC matches coming up, all at home. Barry visits the Marion Bowman Activities Center at 7 p.m. Friday followed by Nova Southeastern at 4 p.m. Saturday and Lynn at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Sophomore standout Erin Oberlin, an outside hitter/middle blocker sidelined with a sprained ankle, did not play either match and is expected to return sometime this week.
Several players stepped up in her absence against Eckerd. Senior setter Robbie Beach led Saint Leo with a .438 attack percentage, 50 assists, 14 digs and two aces.
Other contributors: Shanna King had a .643 attack percentage and 19 kills; Morgan Mander had 13 kills, 15 digs and two aces; Alison Baker (Hudson) 13 kills; and Eniko Lukacs 10 kills, 11 digs and three aces.
FOUR IN A ROW: Saturday's 2-0 win over Warner Southern was the fourth straight and marked consecutive shutouts for the Saint Leo men's soccer team.
Brandon Whitsett and Giancarlo Conte scored, and goalkeepers Sam Luedke and Matias Perez shared the clean sheet.
Tony Rosso's pass set up Whitsett's first goal of the season and Conte converted a through ball from Tommy Poston for his second goal.
RUNNING: Saint Leo's men's and women's cross country teams compete at 8 a.m. Saturday at the Warner Southern Invitational.
Freshman Travis Robbins and senior Amber Getz (Land O'Lakes) were the Lions' top two in last week's race, the flrunners.com Invitational at Ed Radice Park in Tampa. Robbins placed 32nd in the men's race in 18 minutes, 7.63 seconds. Getz finished 72nd in 25:11.31.
