Prep volleyball | Coulter, Hall help Manatee sweep Sarasota Riverview for district title

BRADENTON -- The formula to Manatee's prolific offense is easy to understand. On the left is Haley Coulter, one of the best outside hitters in the county and a Tulsa commit. To her right is Jacqui Armer, one of the area's premier middle blockers who is committed to Louisiana State. Those two are the foundation of the Hurricanes' offense, helping guide the Canes to a Class 8A state championship in 2014 and making them one of the favorites now.

All the way on the right is Grayson Hall, a junior outside hitter reliable for a handful of timely kills and blocks each match. She isn't usually the focus of opponent's scouting reports, comfortable making plays and catching teams off-guard. Manatee's plan Thursday became more than to just give her a few moments -- Hall became a centerpiece of the Hurricanes' 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-19), district championship win against Sarasota Riverview in Bradenton.

"They thought that Haley was going to hit every time and we tricked them," Hall said. "We pull it out later, like secretive."

Coulter still led the match with 18 kills, but Hall chipped in nine during the three sets in the gymnasium at Manatee High School. It was a deliberate effort for the Canes (23-4, 6-0 Class 8A-District 6) to throw Riverview (20-2, 4-2) out of sorts in the Class 8A-District 6 title match. With setter Gabby Coulter back in the lineup for her second match after nearly a month-long absence, the Hurricanes were more capable of a balanced effort and Coulter was able to dish out 41 assists.

The first point Hall scored came on a first-set block. She didn't get her first assisted kill until the Canes led 11-5 in the second set, when she wound up with five in a 25-18 win. Coulter was insistent to get Hall involved early, though, and it spread out the Ram defense, opening up kill opportunities for Haley Coulter, JoJo Coulter and Jacqui Armer.

"Any time we can get a lot of kills

out of the right side it just takes a lot of pressure off Jacqui and Haley. I just don't think they were ready for that," head coach Tony Cothron said. "When they saw the right side they had to spread out a little more."

Cothron spent the day of practice Manatee had to prepare after its district semifinal win working specifically with Hall. The outside hitter's technique has been inconsistent all season - she usually brings her arm back too far, leaving balls to float toward the floor rather than crash.

Hall focused on refining her technique and attacking the right sideline to keep the floor spread. During one point in the final frame, Riverview setter Kayla Walker dove to dig a ball off the line. Hall briefly began to second-guess her strategy.

Cothron addressed her specifically. Her spike threw the Rams' defense off balance. Riverview successfully returned the ball, but the Hurricanes turned around and scored.

"Recently, in tournament play, we've been really up-and-down," Haley Coulter said. "This game I think we really played as a team."

The production spread beyond Hall and Coulter. Outside hitter Gabby Coulter added 10 kills and Armer scored four kills and seven blocks. Armer, Hall and middle blocker Stefani Keller also formed a formidable low block, which forced the Rams into shots which either sailed out of bounds or floated harmlessly over the block for libero Kara Saylor, who had 11 digs, or other second row players to set up a return.

After weeks of nitpicking his team to prepare it for the postseason, Cothron was finally outwardly excited about the Canes' performance. They'll now host a region quarterfinal match Wednesday against Orlando Cypress Creek after one of their most complete wins of the season.

"We got through this step," Cothron said, "now comes the big challenge."

This story was originally published October 22, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Prep volleyball | Coulter, Hall help Manatee sweep Sarasota Riverview for district title."