BRADENTON — Hannah Bartges clutched the trophy as she walked through Southeast’s gymnasium. Minutes earlier, Bartges and younger sister, Tessa, had posed for pictures with the gold, shiny memento.
It has been two seasons since the Seminoles won a volleyball tournament. There’s no better time to win one than now. And there’s no better tourney to win than your own.
And there’s nothing better than defending your home turf.
And the Noles captured all of that Saturday, thumping Arcadia DeSoto 25-14, 25-23 in the championship game of the second annual Southeast Volleyball Invitational.
To make things even sweeter, the Bulldogs had beaten the Noles twice this season in Class 3A-District 10 action, so downing DeSoto helped heal a few wounds.
“Being that we won this on our home court in my senior year,” said Bartges, an outside hitter, “I couldn’t ask for anything better, except for winning districts in a couple of weeks.”
Southeast went 5-0 in the 16-team, four-division tournament.
“Our defense really pulled together,” said Noles senior outside hitter Katie DiGirolamo. “The last time we played DeSoto, our middle blocker, Brittane Hunter, got injured, and we were ahead two games and that brought our momentum down. This time we were ready, and we wanted revenge.”
Vindication seized.
The Noles manhandled the Bulldogs (14-5) in the first game, jumping out to an 8-3 cushion. In the second game, Arcadia put up more of a fight after falling behind Southeast 14-7. The Bulldogs charged back to tie the score 23-all, but a hitting error and a thunderous spike by DiGirolamo closed the door on the Bulldogs.
DiGirolamo paced the Noles with 10 kills and 13 digs, and Hannah Bartges finished with nine kills. Tessa had three blocks and three spikes for Southeast (17-7).
“The seniors stepped up for us,” Noles coach Vince Strefling said. “To come in and play some good volleyball teams made it nice to play good competition and beat DeSoto finally.”
Some of those good teams Strefling was referring to were Braden River, which finished in third place; Bayshore, which took eighth; Lakewood Ranch, which was 12th; and Palmetto, which came in 14th.
The Noles, of course, hoisted the trophy when the dust settled.
“We’ve been working on advanced moves, and working on our defense,” DiGirolamo said. “We’ve been working on having one of the best defenses in the state, and we are on our way and ready to play districts in two weeks.”
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