Bulldogs squeak past Bobcats

NORTH PORT -- The Bobcats had an answer for everything DeSoto threw at them Tuesday night.  Everything, right up until the end.    North Port forced the state runner-up Bulldogs to five games before DeSoto pulled out a 3-2 (25-21, 18-25, 25-27, 25-22, 15-7) victory in a match in which every single point from both sides was hard-fought.

There were very few gimmies on Tuesday, and yet North Port coach Becky Halbert was still disappointed in her team's miscues.

"The match all came down to unforced errors at really important times," she lamented. "It really changed the momentum. We normally have maybe four service errors in a match, tonight, we had 12."

The Bobcats (2-4) traded potent attacks with their opponent throughout the evening; North Port sending Adrienne Moreno to the net and the Bulldogs (6-1) countering with Shelby Flint and Amanda Mercer.

It was only in the deciding game five that DeSoto's hitters formed a trio that North Port couldn't stop. Flint's energy had mounted during the match and by the final game, she roared down kill after kill. She scored three in the last game and added another point on a block, while Lauren Bonville and Mercer came alive as well, registering three and two kills, respectively, to tip the scales.

Mercer finished with a team-high 14 kills, Flint finished with 11 and Bonville seven.

"We lack a true put-away hitter like we had last year, but those (three) really stepped up tonight," DeSoto head coach Dave Bremer said. "Shelby especially. She knows she wants the ball and she's very vocal ... she's always been like that."

DeSoto took game one with a combination of Flint's smooth moves and Bobcats' mistakes before North Port found its feet and won 14 of the last 18 points.

Game three saw DeSoto holding 22-19 and 25-24 advantages before Moreno, who led the night with 15 kills, tipped back Mercer's tip just over the net where it fell for the final point. The Bulldogs evened the odds in game four, with setter Chloe Boehm claiming four consecutive aces during a run where DeSoto scored six straight and 10 of 11 to take a 19-13 lead.

North Port battled back to tie the game at 20 and 21 before Flint and Mercer kills gave the Bulldogs all the advantage they would need.

"We struggled for every point tonight," Bremer said. "North Port made some nice adjustments after game one, and we didn't have much of a block going for a while there ... they were just swinging away.