Bayshore, ODA fall in volleyball district finals

Bayshore High School lost in straight sets to host Tarpon Springs, 25-22, 25-18, 25-23, in the Class 6A-District 11 final.

“We played them much better this time,” Bayshore coach Nancy Cothron said. “We went a lot longer with rallies. Our normal errors we would do, we did them later in points this time, so we made the rallies last longer. We were better overall; we were in the game the entire way.”

The Bruins will open regional play on the road at Lely on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Lely won District 6A-12 by beating Immokolee in straight sets. The teams have not met this season. lely ended Bayshore’s season in the regionals last year.

On Thursday, Cothron recognized the play of two of her seniors.

“Reesie Karkoff kept us in the game with her digging. She had 11,” Cothron said. “Blocking was real big for us to in this match. Alexis Norman was much improved in that area. She only had two kills because they had their biggest blocker lined up against her.”

In addition to Karkoff and Norman, senior Jasmine Youngthunder finished with seven assists, four kills, four aces and five digs while Audrey Strom ended up with five kills and five digs.

In the Class 3A-District 5 final, Sarasota Christian completed an undefeated season against district foes with a five-set victory against Out-of-Door Academy in the district final.

ODA will face 3A-6 champion Seacrest Country Day, which defeated Evangelical Christian 25-22, 25-14, 25-23 on Thursday. The game will be in Naples on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

This story was originally published October 21, 2016 at 12:49 AM with the headline "Bayshore, ODA fall in volleyball district finals."