Merrit Island Christian Cougars run into roadblock in volleyball semifinals

MIC unable to match Bayshore at the net

BY MIKE CHERRY
FLORIDA TODAY

LAKELAND - Outside of plant food, Laurie Haines knows what can really help her volleyball program grow.

"Get them some Miracle-Gro," Haines said after Merritt Island Christian's season ended. "Work on handling a team like that."

The fourth-year Cougars' coach was referring to Tampa's Bayshore Christian, which knocked MIC from the state tournament Wednesday morning with a 25-11, 27-25, 25-11 Class 1A semifinal victory in the opening match of the four-day event at The Lakeland Center.

Before an evenly distributed, noisy crowd of about 250, the Faith Warriors, winners of three state titles since 1997, used strong net play to dominate the 66-minute match. They advance to today's 2 p.m. smallest-schools final against Warner Christian.

Haines' comments were made when asked what her team (27-3) could do to better prepare for such a net-strong squad. The Cougars went through long schedule stretches this fall without being tested. Including Wednesday, they lost a combined 10 games and were previously beaten only by Merritt Island and Holy Trinity.

MIC, however, rarely stopped the outside attacks of senior Jannica Mollett (14 kills) and junior Sami Stokes (nine kills) in the middle. More annoying to the Cougars was the wall they often could not hit over or around. Five of the Faith Warriors (28-4) accumulated at least three blocks.

"Their blocking was a big factor," sophomore Stephanie Quinn said. "We hadn't had anyone block us."

"They had pogo stick for legs," said Haines, whose MIC teams have 97 wins. "Every rotation, they had two blockers that could hit and block."

Bayshore coach Melanie Humenansky said MIC arrived as a mystery despite the fact the Faith Warriors defeated the Cougars in three games in a 2004 semifinal. Bayshore finished No. 2 in the final state sportswriters poll and MIC was No. 3.

"Their schedule didn't have any teams we expected them to play," Humenansky said. "We seemed to have a few more hitters than they had."

Thus the perhaps half-kidding Haines reference for off-season fertilizer. One thing MIC will try to improve, she said, is its schedule. Only two Brevard public schools played the Cougars this season -- Merritt Island and Edgewood (twice). Talented 2A team Holy Trinity split matches with MIC over several days at a St. Edward's tournament.

"I'll look a little further into the Orlando area," Haines said. "Brevard teams won't play us. We'll give them another shot."

The good news for the Cougars, most of whom slide into the winter sports of basketball or soccer, is that they lose only two seniors. Just one, Sarah Becker, was a starter. The bad news might be flashbacks to game two, when they rallied to hold game point.

After falling behind 3-0, Bayshore seized the first game, winning 15 of the final 16 points. Haines said passing breakdowns led to what she cited as her squad's only poor game.

Yet after trailing 23-14 in the second, the Cougars, in part because of Quinn's serving, built a 25-24 edge. Bayshore handled the game point when senior Ashlea Ballengee tapped a loose return by a teammate over her head and the net behind MIC's shifting coverage. A Mollett kill and unreturnable Stokes serve allowed the Faith Warriors to crush the Cougars' best chance to alter the match's fate.

"It was pretty spontaneous," Ballengee said of her game-saver.

After that, it was again a matter of size.

"I got blocked like five times," junior Erica Robes said. "I got frustrated. It was awesome to be playing against a really good team."