Gators revving things up

Land O'Lakes is off to a 3-0 start and has high hopes for this season.

By David Murphy
Published September 5, 2007

LAND O'LAKES - The accomplishments are listed on banners. Navy ones, with hints of gold. Walk into the gymnasium at Land O'Lakes High, look up and to your left, and you will see them hanging proudly, their surfaces littered with district titles and region titles and the years in which they were won.

Boys soccer. Girls soccer. Wrestling. Softball. Baseball.

So packed with overachievement is the wall, it would be easy to overlook the lonely banner hanging at the end of the line, sandwiched between girls cross country and cheerleading, like an ugly lampshade its owner hoped no one would see.

Volleyball. District champs.

1987. 1988. 1989.

"As long as I've been here we've been trying to get it together," Land O'Lakes senior Kayli Keough said as she stood in the shadow of that banner. "We want to be one of those teams who are expected to be good up there."

It has been almost two decades since Land O'Lakes last had a volleyball team to be reckoned with, but with a first-year coach and a trio of powerful senior hitters, the Gators appear to be back. On Tuesday, against a scrappy Ridgewood team that had already knocked off perennial district power Central, they roared to a three-game victory 25-21, 25-20, 25-17 getting a combined 37 kills from their trio of stars en route to their third straight victory to start the season.

Undefeated and with a win over county power River Ridge under their belt, the Gators look capable of at least challenging for their first title since as long as any of their players have been alive.

"We're all a little more excited to come to practice this year," senior Danielle Priest said.

Much of that has to do with coach Michelle Griffin, who took over after Jessica McCoy resigned in the offseason. A star at Zephyrhills from 1996-99, Griffin has instilled a youthful excitement in her players, while at the same time guiding them to their most impressive start in decades.

"When I played," she said, "Land O'Lakes was the team you had fun playing."

Not anymore. Just ask the folks over at River Ridge, whom the Gators stunned in four games in the season opener. Griffin admits she dreaded playing the powerful Knights in the season opener.

"It was the first time as a player or a coach I've ever beat them," Griffin said.

Now it is the rest of the county, and the district, that will be taking aim at Land O'Lakes.

With Keough, Priest and fellow senior Jessica Bryant, the Gators have three players who can dominate a game at the net. And all three have plenty to play for.

Keough, a basketball star who has committed to play at Florida State, didn't get back on the volleyball court until March because of a case of mono that sidelined her for the end of basketball season. Until this fall, Priest hadn't played for Land O'Lakes since her freshman year. And Bryant has been there since the beginning, watching a fledgling squad improve by baby steps each year.

"There's more chemistry this year," Bryant said.

As the last of the folding chairs were packed away Tuesday night, and the few remaining fans walked slowly toward the doorway, Keough looked up at that lonely banner at the end of the line.

"We want to put our year up there," she said.

For the first time in a long time, it's at least a possibility.

David Murphy can be reached at dmurphy@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1407.

[Last modified September 4, 2007, 23:28:08]