District volleyball roundup: Freedom finally gets past Wiregrass Ranch

Tue. October 23, 2012 |

TAMPA Freedom wasted little time putting Wiregrass Ranch on its heels Tuesday night, scoring the first 12 points.

Then it knocked the Bulls on their backs. Finally, it made sure they stayed right there.

From start to finish, the Patriots were in control, winning the Class 7A, District 9 semifinal 25-16, 28-26, 22-25, 25-17 at Gaither. Freedom lost both matches against the Bulls this season, but rode the efforts of big-hitting high-flying Jasmyn Perry into the championship match for the third straight season.

Its always a tough battle against Wiregrass, even in the losses, Freedom coach Kerry Short said. But I figured if we came out strong and got the first few matches, we could finish them off.

Freedom (16-10) probably finished the Bulls off in the second set. The Patriots trailed most of the second against a resilient Bulls squad.

Freedom rallied from a 22-20 deficit to tie. An errant ball redirected off a pipe and back past the pursuing Patriots to put the Bulls back ahead 23-22. And the Patriots survived a pair of match-point leads of 24-23 and 25-24 before Perrys kill set up a match point that Wiregrass Ranch hit into the net.

Even a third-set win by the Bulls (17-6) wasnt enough to reverse Freedoms momentum.

Perry took over the final set. She had five kills in the first 10 points, and even when she made a mistake passing too close to the net the ball managed to trickle over and tie up the Bulls.

She finished with 21 kills.

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District volleyball roundup: Freedom finally gets past Wiregrass Ranch