Indian Rocks wins Keswick Invitational

By CHRIS GIRANDOLA, Times correspondent
Published September 16, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - For Indian Rocks Christian, the learning curve began four years ago, as half of the eight seniors on this year's team started on varsity. A year later, the rest of the current crop joined the fray.

On Saturday, at the 24th annual Keswick Invitational volleyball tournament, the Eagles demonstrated how much they've matured as they beat Northside Christian 25-14, 25-17, to clinch the tournament title.

"We've played together now for so long that it's easy to act as one unit out there on the court," said tournament MVP Liz Schaner, the senior outside hitter who led the Eagles with seven kills and two aces. "And whenever they started making any type of run, we just told each other to not let up on them and keep pushing along."

Another motivation factor came earlier in the day when the Eagles (12-0) lost only their second game of the season - they beat Lake Worth Christian two games to one in the semifinals. They also lost a game in their first match of the year against Tampa Catholic, but have gone 11 straight matches without losing a game until Saturday.

The Eagles cruised in the first game over the Mustangs (10-3), but faced some hurdles in the second as Northside fought back to within five points after trailing 20-11.

The young Northside squad features four talented juniors and five sophomores, including 6-foot-1 middle hitter Kayla Walton, who made the all-tournament team.

During the run, junior setter Callie Hasko, another Mustang player who made the all-tournament team, found Walton a few times for kills. It energized the Northside crowd, which began chanting, "It's not over," when IRC coach Mark Foster called a timeout with the score 21-16.

"I just told them to maintain their mental toughness and that we couldn't make mental mistakes," Foster said. "We have such great chemistry, and our passing has been a key to our success. We also showed how we can use so many different players on set-ups."

After the timeout, senior setter Tabitha Henley, who led the Eagles with 18 assists, and senior libero Jessica Jones found IRC's most dependable player when they set up Schaner three times down the stretch. The Eagles finished with a 4-1 run to close the door on Northside's comeback.

"Our girls have learned a lot from facing them last year and in this match," Northside assistant coach Julius Hasko said. "We're young like they were two years ago, so we're on the other end of the learning curve. The difference in this match was definitely passing and communication, and they showed why they are so good."

The Mustangs will have a chance to prove its mettle again when the two teams face each other in two weeks at Northside.

"It will be a chance to see how we've grown," Hasko said.

[Last modified September 16, 2007, 00:23:46]