Indians swept by Leon in semifinals

LAKELAND - The Venice High volleyball team has had bad days this season.  The Indians lost three matches in one day twice, once in the Mother McAuley Classic in Chicago and also in the Tampa Berkeley Premier.  Those days can not compare to Wednesday.  Tallahassee Leon foiled Venice with its blocking and scrappy defense, and the Indians suffered one of their worst hitting matches of the season in a season-ending 25-23, 25-11, 25-22 setback in the FHSAA Class 5A State Semifinals at The Lakeland Center.
While the Lions (24-5) move on to tonight's State Final, Venice (21-9) saw its season come to a frustrating end.

"I don't regret anything about this season, except not playing our best tonight," senior outside hitter Emily Daniels said. "We were playing not to lose instead of to win. That was our only real mistake."

The fact the teams played twice earlier this season, swapping 3-0 sweeps, gave the Lions the idea Venice would not go away, no matter how dire the circumstances.

"Venice has hustled people off the court," Leon coach Joy Becker said. "Our kids know that. If you open a door, Venice will take advantage."

Making its fourth straight trip to the Final 4, Leon got a reminder in the first game. Scoring nine straight points, it bolted to a 16-7 lead.

"We have to fight and scratch for every single point for us to be successful," Venice coach Brian Wheatley said. "That first game, we took five or six points off. We can't do that."

Yet, the Indians had a chance to steal it.

A kill by junior outside hitter Autumn Duyn -- her ninth of the game -- gave Venice its first lead at 23-22.

The Lions used a time-out and scored the final three points.

"It would have been a huge difference," senior middle hitter Jillian Allen said on taking Game 1. "It would have gotten us going."

Instead, the Indians retreated.

The 11 points in the second game was their lowest output in a game this season, four fewer than their previous low.

"That second game I could sense they were frustrated," Leon middle hitter Marcella Desloge said.

"We were out of system a lot," senior setter Taylor Capasso said. "We couldn't get a swing. Tonight, we just couldn't get it going."

The Indians were most competitive in Game 3, when Wheatley shuffled the lineup.

"I rolled the dice," he said. "We wanted to give them a new look.

"We kind of turned to working not figuring what they were doing, we had to figure out what we had to do better. That was our main push throughout the match: for us to do better."

The Indians took their largest lead in the match, going up by two points twice, the final time at 18-16.

"They put that second game behind them," Becker said. "We knew they would come back, and they did. That's why we had to keep playing. I'm glad we were able to shut the door."

Leon reeled off seven straight points, and closed it on senior Alex Johnson's match-high 14th kill of the season.

"Anytime you get on a stage like this, it's the team that keeps things together," Wheatley said. "We didn't really keep things together like we have all season."

The Indians have been together for the past two season on the varsity level and as many as five on the club scene.

A majority of the players are seniors: Capasso, Daniels, Allen, libero Dorothy Rahal, middle hitter Morgan Shattuck and Jessica Costanzo.

"Going to Chicago and making it to the Final 4 was amazing," Daniels said. "I'm proud of us."