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Tigers Broom The Bobcats

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By TONY CASTRO SPORTS EDITOR

Hernando Today

Published: September 18, 2008

SPRING HILL - Fox Chapel Middle School's volleyball teams carved out its first varsity/junior varsity sweep of the season Thursday night at the expense of the first-year Explorer K-8 Bobcats.
JV Coach Erin Brown's Tigers (1-5) notched their first of the season in 31 minutes by solving Explorer, 25-8, 25-4.
For Brown's squad, Fox Chapel clicked on a match-high and season-best 45-of-49 serves (92 percent) to split the seasonal series.
Bobbie Lynn Johnson paced the victors with a match-high 14 points on a perfect 12-of-12 effort. Heather Collins also reached doubles figures with 12 points, converting 11-of-12 service tries.
"It was a good win," explained the 11-year-old Johnson. "We kinda saw this coming. We all served real well today."
"This (win) tastes great," smiled Coach Brown. "The girls can finally see what all the hard work they've put in has done."

Completing the sweep

In the varsity nightcap, Fox Chapel (6-0) survived 11 service errors to erase pesky Explorer K-8 (0-6) in 42 minutes, 25-19, 25-15.
Though Fox Chapel converted 38-of-49 serves (78 percent), Marissa Welch connected on more than half of her team's points finishing with 22 overall. All told, she went 20-of-22 from the service line.
"Tonight was another match and another win," shrugged the 13-year-old Welch. "Right now I can't wait for Monday night (in a rematch versus defending county champion) against Challenger."
Fox Chapel's Kalya Montealegre chipped in 11 points for Head Coach Vanessa Ferrier's crew.
"No matter what happened tonight, we stayed together," explained Coach Ferrier. "Our glue was our mental toughness."
From the home sideline, Karissa DiMuccio (10 points) and Hannah Charlwood (7 points) paced the Bobcats.
"We played great," summed up Explorer Head Coach Catherine Lovett. "Sarah Iozzi gave us a huge lift at the net. Our net play was brilliant. The only thing I'm disappointed in is that we could not break their serve a couple times."

Varsity: Fox Chapel 2, Explorer K-8 0
1 2
Fox Chapel 25 25
Explorer 19 15
Records – Fox Chapel (6-0 overall), Explorer (0-6 overall).

Junior Varsity: Fox Chapel 2, Explorer K-8 0
1 2
Fox Chapel 25 25
Explorer 08 04
Records - Fox Chapel (1-5 overall), Explorer (1-5 overall).

Sports Editor Tony Castro can be reached at (352) 544-5278 or online at acastro@hernandotoday.com.

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