CLEARWATER — As the final point of Tuesday night’s Class 3A, District 9 match between Clearwater Central Catholic and Calvary Christian sailed out of bounds, some CCC players jumped for joy while others fell to the court in exhaustion. The Marauders figured they would be tested by the Warriors, but not quite like this.
After dropping the first two games, CCC battled back to win the match 21-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-20, 17-15. It was the first loss of the season for Calvary Christian (4-1), while the Marauders improve to 2-0. The teams do not meet again until the district tournament.
“We knew they were a scrappy team and were going to give us a hard time,” CCC senior outside hitter Katie Moore said. “This was going to be our hardest game in the district. The first two games were all nerves. This was a packed gym and we haven’t played in anything like this. We got over our nerves and started to play with intensity.”
Calvary’s gym, which holds 520, was filled to capacity. Spurred on by the raucous crowd, The Warriors took a 2-0 lead mainly due to unforced errors by CCC and excellent net play from Anna Vollmer and Caslin Layer. In fact, CCC didn’t even take a lead until 3-2 in the third game.
In the third, both teams traded points until it was 16-15. From there, CCC rattled off six straight points and put the game away on a Shea Hamilton kill.
The fourth game was just as close. The Marauders jumped out to an 8-3 lead but the Warriors refused to go away. Calvary cut it to 13-11 but could not get any closer. After trading points, CCC scored four of the final five points to force a fifth game.
In the fifth, the Warriors scratched their way to a 9-6 lead after a Reagan Evans ace. When CCC put a serve in the net, Calvary led 14-12 and was one point away from winning.
But four hits on one point and a bad block tied the score at 15. CCC took a 16-15 lead on a block and won the match on a block out of bounds by Calvary Christian.
“I thought we had a good game plan and knew what they were going to do,” Calvary coach Caleb Sibert said. “But after that they cut their errors down and started coming back. Hats off to them. It’s really hard to come back after losing the first two games. But I’m really proud of the way my girls played.”
Both teams expect to see each other in the postseason. CCC is the Tampa Bay Times’ No. 1 team while Calvary Christian is No. 4. Having an early-season match as competitive as this will only help, according to Moore.
“If we face this type of play throughout the season, then when we get into districts or regionals we’re going to be used to it,” Moore said. “We’re going to be more prepared than we were the last three years.”