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Lady Broncos fall in five

By Ray DiMonda
Posted 10/31/18

MIDDLEBURG – For Middleburg High volleyball coach Carrie Prewitt, one week ago it was all about home court advantage.

“Volleyball is such a mental game that you have to be able to keep your …

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Lady Broncos fall in five


Posted

MIDDLEBURG – For Middleburg High volleyball coach Carrie Prewitt, one week ago it was all about home court advantage.

“Volleyball is such a mental game that you have to be able to keep your blinders on,” said Prewitt. “There is so much momentum and mental toughness that has to happen in a tight game like this and sometimes things going on around them affect them.”

After battling to a 2-2 games tie, it would be the Bronco mistakes of their own that would do in their season as the Wildcats put the Broncos away 15-9 in the final game of their region 1-7A quarterfinal against Ocala Forest at the Middleburg High gym.

It seemed that if Middleburg got the first point, the momentum swing was enough and they pulled out the first and third game 25-23, and 25-22 respectively. But the losses were dominated by mistakes. Kills for the sidelines were just too close and ended out of bounds, and serves too deep or into the net and bounced back handed the Wildcats easy points that the Broncos could not recover from. The second and fourth game losses were 17-25, and 13-25.

In the tie-breaker, with Forest getting the first score, it looked like the north court was not going to be the trick. With a bounce off the net that fell, the girls did not win the first point and a premonition was set.

Asked if not getting that first point was a concern, Prewitt said “no because this team is so good at coming back.”

Forest followed with a spike for kill and the Broncos were looking up out of a hole.

At 5-1 for Forest, Prewitt called for a time out to settle her team down as Ocala was a third of the way to victory.

With the Wildcats at 10, senior Mallory Roney got a spike for kill to get momentum back for the Broncos, but they still trailed by seven, 10-3. The next service had the Broncos setting a text book block and as the girls went up, the ball ricocheted out of bounds putting Forest up 11-3 and another Bronco timeout. “Even when they were getting ahead, I still felt like our kids had potential to come back and get in the battle because they are just fighters,” said Prewitt.

As the Broncos began climbing back in at 11-4, then 11-5, Forest called for time and broke the chain Middleburg was beginning to connect.

At 13-9 and the Broncos only gaining at a two for one pace, the Wildcats smelled blood in the water and would not be denied.

“Once we would get from under we would shoot ourselves in the foot with a missed serve or something like that and they (Ocala) didn’t let up at all, so you’re not going to get a break from them, you have to make a it,” said Prewitt.

When the score got to 14-9, it would come down to a single play. After a very long volley where the girls were resetting and making plays, Middleburg would hit the ball into the net and the Wildcats would not even have to earn the last point on their own. The girls never went down without a fight, but the mistakes are what would end the season.

“Our kids left it all on the court. These kids (Ocala) came back and you have to give them credit. I’m so proud of my kids. They played so hard and they just left everything they had on the court,” said Prewitt.