Lady Seahawks best Gulf County rivals

The Lady Seahawk volleyball teams added two big wins to their record, as they defeated both Wewahitchka and Port St. Joe high schools.

On Sept. 13 at Wewahitchka, the Seahawks rallied to defeat the Gators in five sets, after losing the first two sets 20-25 and 22-25.

“At the start of the season our varsity team lost to Wewa in three straight sets,” said coach Tara Klink. “Tonight they battled it out to come home with the win. I was so proud of how they handled the mental aspect of this game tonight”

That battle consisted of three straight three wins – 25-15, 25-20, and 15-13.

Junior Jostyn Tipton led serving with seven aces, followed by senior Mya Brown with four aces. Senior Skylar Johnson and sophomore Ryan Brown served three aces each. Top hitters were Ryan Brown with six kills, Johnson with five, and Mya Brown with four kills. 

The junior varsity team bounced back from a close loss to Wewa at the beginning of the season by winning 25-21 and 26-24 over the Gators.

“Jada Lockley had four aces and Jayla Creamer and Luci Paul both served three aces each,” said Klink. Lockley and Creamer also each had two kills.

The middle school team also came home from Wewa with a win, falling in the first game 18-25 and then winning 25-17 and 15-11.

Amelia Schoelles led the game with 12 aces, followed by Kate Ward with 11 aces. Princess Terrell also had 2 kills. “These girls brought teamwork and good spirits to the court,” said Klink.

Two nights later, Port. St. Joe hosted Franklin County, the game played in front of a packed house evenly divided between the fans of both schools. The two squads would need five sets before Franklin County emerged with the win.

Prior to the varsity teams taking the floor, the Franklin County JV won two close sets, 32-30 and 25-23.

In the varsity contest, Franklin County won the first two sets by scores of 25-17 and 27-25, although St. Joe seemed to serve to a 26-25 lead before being called for a rotation violation that resulted in a point reversal and loss of serve. Franklin County followed with an immediate point, and held a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.

In the third set, St. Joe jumped to a 22-18 lead, and from there, the teams exchanged points until the Sharks claimed the win, 25-19.

In a nip-and-tuck affair that saw multiple lead changes, St. Joe tied the match with a 25-22 win in set four, and the Sharks seemed to have the momentum heading into the final set. 

The Sharks never led during the final set, although they did close the gap to 12-10 but could not hold serve. Since the fifth set required only 15 points to win, the Seahawks scored the final three points to take the match and even their season record at 4-4.

“The mental aspect of the game took a toll on us,” said Franklin County coach Tara Klink, “but we were able to pull it out.”

“This is our most anticipated game of the year,” she said, “so there were definitely nerves involved. But I’m glad that we pulled it out.”

Port St. Joe coach Lissa Walker said “we made a couple of crucial mental mistakes, and before you know it, we’re down. (But) it was a great game. We could have won the second (set), and we fought and fought and fought.”

The wins in Gulf County followed a Sept. 12 defeat at home for the Seahawks to Liberty County. Franklin County lost 25-6, 25-8 and 25-16.

On Sept. 8 at Rutherford, the Lady Seahawks swept the Rams 25-16, 25-21 and 25-15.

Johnson had 12 kills and Ryan Brown had nine kills and scored four aces. Senior Kylee Grace Smith scored three aces and had 10 assists, while junior Jostyn Tipton had nine assists.

The JV won in a quick two sets 25-15 and 25-7. Hailey Loesch and Jada Lockley served six aces each, followed by Luci Paul with five aces. Jada Lockley also had three kills and Lexi Webb had two kills.