Indians shed rust in beating Charlotte

PUNTA GORDA - It took a while, probably a little longer than coach Brian Wheatley wanted, before the Venice High volleyball team shook off the rust. Idle since losing three matches Oct. 3 in the Mother McAuley ASICS Challenge in Chicago, the Indians got back into the swing of things with a 25-13, 25-19, 25-13 Class 5A-District 10 victory over host Charlotte on Tuesday night.

Because of homecoming and the rigors of the early schedule, Venice practiced only four times since returning from the Windy City: three times last week when the Indians celebrated homecoming and Monday.

"It's mid-season," Wheatley said. "We wanted to keep their legs fresh for the second half of the season.

"We had two goals tonight: Chicago intensity and fun."

The Indians had the most fun when libero Dorothy Rahal dug and passed to setters Taylor Capasso and Danika Yoder, who in turn fed middle hitters Morgan Shattuck, Jillian Allen and Bianca Echtler for kills.

"What opened up all of our offenses was our middles up every time working real hard," Wheatley said. "Morgan, Jillian and Bianca did a great job of being there when the set was there."

The 12 kills from the middles -- six by Shattuck, four by Allen and two by Echtler -- opened the court for outside hitters Autumn Duyn (12 kills) and Emily Daniels (seven kills).

Duyn (17 digs) and Daniels (nine digs) also worked hard on the defensive end against a maturing Charlotte team.

Despite having only one senior, the Tarpons (9-6; 1-3 in 5A-10) opened an 8-2 lead in Game 2, behind the play of Taylor Mack, Abi Conde, Alexis Jones and Taylor Welch, a good sign for first-year coach Michelle Dill.

"Charlotte played a good game," Wheatley said. "The second game, they played real well. They had very few unforced errors, which kept them in the ballgame."

All 12 players saw action in the first two games for Venice, which clinched the top seed and home court in the district when Port Charlotte defeated the Tarpons last week.

Capasso, a setter, reentered late as an outside hitter and recorded two kills.

"It's a week-and-a-half off," Wheatley said. I'm not worried about it at all."

The Indians (15-8, 4-0 in 5A-10) return to action at 4:30 p.m. today in Fort Lauderdale against rival St. Thomas Aquinas in a varsity-only match.

Venice closes the regular season with home matches Tuesday against Fort Myers and Oct. 22 against Cardinal Mooney before districts.