Central Sweeps Hernando

For years now, Central High and Hernando High have built a fierce local rivalry, dating back to the days when these programs dominated Hernando County.

Though the balance of power has shifted to Nature Coast Technical, these two clubs always seem to put together a thrilling, emotion-packed contest despite the lack of district implications.

Wednesday night's first meeting of the season proved no exception, even though the visiting Lady Bears swept the Lady Leopards, 26-24, 25-19, 25-22.

"It was hard-fought, that was for sure," Central Head Coach Vicki Weaver said. "It's always hard-fought. It doesn't matter if one team is really bad or one team is really good. It's always a fight here. That's the nature of the cross-town rivalry."

In each game, the Lady Bears (3-1) opened up sizable leads only to have the Lady Leopards (2-3) rally back.

Central bolted out of the gate, going up 6-0 on the serve of Brooke Wardlow, who recorded back-to-back aces after the Lady Bears forced the initial side-out.

Hernando fell behind 15-4 before storming back, scoring 10 points on two service turns by Kristen Jones.

Brittany Parker had a kill that tied the score at 21, and Breanna Conner gave the Lady Leopards a 22-21 lead with a kill of her own.

Hernando had serve up 24-23, but a block by Quynn Fonseca staved off game point. Mena Petro followed with an ace and Central finished it off when a Hernando spike bounced back off the top of the net.

Petro served seven straight points, including two aces, and Amanda Morris added four kills to help the Lady Bears open up an 18-8 edge in the second game.

The Lady Leopards cut that deficit to 22-19 on an ace by Liz Lawrence, but Central pulled out a 2-0 advantage in the match.

In the third the Lady Bears again scored big with Petro serving, going from down 4-1 to ahead 9-4. Angela Wooster served five points to make it 17-10, however Hernando cut it to 17-15 on a kill by Parker.

Sophomore Tikiera Relaford, who did not play in either of the first two games, then posted four kills over the next five points to put Central in front by five, 21-16.

Still the Lady Leopards would not go down quietly. Malea Kalina's ace put them down just one, 23-22. Weaver called a timeout, preceding a side-out and a game-winning ace by Fonseca.

"Our serving was very good," Weaver said. "We didn't have as many serving errors as we've had. We didn't have any in the second game. That really helped.

"Angie (Wooster), my setter, she's improving all the time. Her sets were more consistent so it gave our hitters the opportunity to swing."

Morris had a match-high nine kills for Central. Parker led Hernando with six kills and Brittany Hill added three blocks.

"It was much better than what we played last night (a loss to Pasco)," Hernando Head Coach Cristi Charlow said. "We came out stronger, we talked more in all three games.

"The first and second games we started off, the points were not there and in both we came back. To me that's great. Overall we did a good job."

CENTRAL 3, HERNANDO 0
CEN 26 25 25
HER 24 19 22
Records: Central (3-1), Hernando (2-3).