BCS wins sixth crown

BRADENTON — They are the small schools without the depth of talent of bigger schools, but Saturday they proved they have two of the best volleyball teams in the county.  Bradenton Christian competes in Class 1A, and Saint Stephen’s does battle in 2A. On Saturday, the teams battled for three games with the Panthers outlasting the Falcons 25-23, 25-27, 15-8 in the 11th annual All-County Volleyball Tournament at Manatee High.

“This doesn’t surprise me,” Panthers coach Greg Geraldson said. “I know that Saint Stephen’s has a lot of good players. I’m surprised at our girls. In the second game against Manatee, we didn’t play very well. The second game against Lakewood Ranch, we lost. The second game against Palmetto, we almost lost, so we had some inconsistency going on.”

Luckily for BCS, the team knows when to punch the urgency button. The Panthers have won the county tournament six times. Before this season, though, their last title came in 2004.  Saturday’s triumph wasn’t easy.  After squeaking by the Falcons (7-4) in the first game, BCS held a 20-17 advantage in the second game, but Saint Stephen’s charged back to take a 23-22 lead on Melissa Johnson’s ace, and the Falcons clinched the win on kills by Morgan Johnson and Alyssa Allen.

Morgan Johnson led Saint Stephen’s with 12 kills, and her younger sister Melissa had six kills and 10 service points.

“(Saturday) we played our level of ball,” Falcons coach Nancy Cothron said. “The little mistakes that have been our nemesis, we made less of them, but we made them at critical times. But I’m really proud of the girls that we stressed throughout this tournament that we needed to play for fun. We can’t point any fingers. They played as a team, and they lost as a team.”

The Panthers (13-1) ran away with the third game to claim the championship.  BCS was led by tournament MVP and senior middle blocker Maria DeKuiper, who had 15 kills and two blocks. Senior libero Savannah Smith had 11 digs.  “I’m overwhelmed with excitement,” DeKuiper said. “We just went out there and played with all that we had. We work hard and push ourselves to be the best that we can. Saint Stephen’s is a good team, don’t get me wrong, but we went out and did what we had to do.”

In other action, Braden River beat Manatee 25-16, 25-18, and Palmetto got by Bayshore 25-20, 24-26, 15-12.