Venice victory a milestone for Wheatley

Written by Dennis Maffezzoli

After a prosperous career at the University of Kentucky, Batt returned as an assistant for the Indians when they won their second state title in 2005.  "And this one, I guess," she said.

Coming back, this time as the head coach of Cardinal Mooney, Batt was on the opposite end of Venice coach Brian Wheatley's 400th career victory.  The Indians came back from a slow start to post a 25-20, 25-14, 25-10 victory over the Cougars on Wednesday night.

Like coach Phil Jackson when he won his 10th NBA title as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, Wheatley received a cap. His had the number 400, the zeroes in volleyballs. There were party poppers and cake after the Indians' second win of the season.

"Those wins are a product of the process," said Wheatley, who has 105 losses in 17 seasons. "The foundation of Venice volleyball is more than wins and losses. We try to make the volleyball part of their high school experience the best part."  "It's cool. It's a tribute to all of our teams, and a tribute to the other coach."

Cardinal Mooney (1-1) put up a solid block in the first game, stretching the Indians to the limit, before they reeled off the final three points to close it out.

Serving was key to the Venice victory, led by setter Danika Yoder, who had seven of Venice's 18 aces, and Autumn Duyn, who notched 15 aces.

"I wasn't real happy with our first game," Wheatley said. "We've got some things to work on in practice, but we definitely picked it up. In games two and three, we came around and played more disciplined."

The Cougars received seven kills from Annie Montgomery, five from Lauren Gonzales and eight digs from Sarah Soscia.  "The girls had moments of greatness," Batt said. "One of our goals