Braden River falls in regional final

EAST MANATEE — The 2009 season reached once unreachable levels for the Braden River volleyball team.

A squad that only four years ago endured a winless season captured the school’s first-ever district title, then earned victories in the first two rounds of regionals.

For the Pirates, 2009 was a landmark campaign.

That’s why Saturday’s 25-13, 25-7, 25-22 loss to the visiting “Green Giant” that is Fort Myers in the Class 4A-Region 3 Final may have stung, but it did not diminish what Braden River accomplished.

“These kids have been awesome,” Pirates first-year coach Steven Haugh said. “We had a saying all year that, ‘They are in charge.’ They are in charge of their own destiny. They are in charge of their own work. They worked as hard as they could and had the best year ever in the history of this school, but we ran into a pretty good team in Fort Myers, and I’m sure Fort Myers will do well next week.”

This season was good for several reasons for the Pirates (23-7).

The team set a school record for most wins in a single season.

The Pirates defeated powerhouse St. Petersburg Lakewood twice during the regular season to claim the District 10 crown and beat them again last week in the regional semis.

But Saturday, the Green Wave (27-4) were too strong. You can start with 6-footers Kaitlin Holm (11 kills) and Jillian Galewski at the net. They forced Braden River to alter every spiking opportunity. Through the first two games, the Pirates had just four kills.

Then there were outside hitters Marissa Marazzi (11 kills) and Brittany Brinson (21 kills and three aces) who appeared to try to flatten the volleyball on every kill attempt.

And then, perhaps, the Green Wave’s strategy of spreading the ball around left the Pirates perplexed.

“I thought us spreading our offense around was very pivotal,” Fort Myers coach Stephanie Martin said. “It kept them guessing. We had one-on-one blocking situations, which was very key. We have good ball control.”

After the Green Wave took a quick 2-0 lead, the Pirates showed life in the final game as the lead changed hands eight times, but Fort Myers eventually pulled away at the end.

“This year, we had a team that really wasn’t used to seeing this level of play,” said Pirates senior outside hitter Allison Martin. “We didn’t really play teams that were that difficult, and it really startled us and it took us until the third game to get into our system.”

Senior outside hitter Lauren Powell paced Braden River with seven kills, and Brittany Jaco added four.

“When we first started, we just wanted a winning record,” Powell said. “And to make it to the regional finals is something none of us ever thought of. It was totally out of our league, we thought. To see us grow and come together as a team is amazing. It’s sad to lose, but this is really amazing.”