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DAVID MURPHYHernando couldn't wait to kick off its season, as the 25-12, 25-17, 25-14 victory over Springstead indicates.
BROOKSVILLE - All day, Cristi Brown's cell phone would beep, and all day, she would read the text messages and roll her eyes. Her players, it seemed, couldn't contain their excitement for their season-opening game against Springstead on Tuesday night.
"I was like, 'Stop text messaging me, girls,' " said Brown, the first-year Hernando coach. "You're running up my bill."
The Leopards eventually found the proper place to channel their energy - on the court - and rolled to a 25-12, 25-17, 25-14 victory over Springstead.
With solid play from Lindsey Sears (seven kills, three blocks), Cheyenne Sellers (seven kills, three blocks, two aces) and Carrie Davidson (four kills, two aces), Hernando gave Brown a lot to be happy about in her first game as a head coach.
Sears and Sellers led Hernando in the first game, combining for eight kills and three blocks, while Davidson paced the Leopards in the second.
Hernando scored the final eight points of the third game to complete the sweep.
"I thought we played better than I expected," Davidson said. "Everybody did well."
Springstead, meanwhile, got a very necessary first game out of the way. The Eagles return just two starters from last year's team and must learn how to adjust to life without long-time star Brooke Seaman, now at Brevard College in North Carolina. Though the Eagles played with Hernando for a few stretches, they struggled with errors most of the night.
"It's a learning experience," said Springstead coach Jessica Allnutt, who installed a new offense and new defense before the season. "We're going to go back to the drawing board and tweak some things."
For the Eagles, Allison Wagner had four kills and a couple of blocks, while Hilary Fioca had back-to-back aces in the third game and finished with three for the night.
Allnutt said she was impressed with the way Hernando played in its first game under Brown, a former Leopards player who was an assistant under long-time coach Dena Frye before Frye's resignation in the spring.
"They're scrappy," Allnutt said. "They're not the well-oiled machine of years past, but they're scrappy."
Allnutt said Brown approached her before the game and said the prospect of making her coaching debut was giving her butterflies.
"She asked me, 'Do you remember when you coached your first game?'" Allnutt said. "I said, 'Yeah, I felt like I was going to throw up.' "