Manatee falls short in district volleyball final against Venice, but teams could meet again

Rachel Sadler spiked the ball for an apparent kill.

The Manatee senior’s shot, though, was ruled an illegal hit with her palm.

It was a late point in the second set of Thursday’s Class 8A-District 11 volleyball championship, but it was indicative of how Manatee’s night was going — and finishing — against Venice.

“All year I told my girls they need to take care of the ball,” Manatee head coach Tony Cothron said. “Well, we took care of the ball until 17 in the first set, 20 in the second set and really we did take care of the ball in the third set. Just came up a couple points short.”

The Indians swept the Hurricanes 25-19, 25-23, 29-27 to win their 16th straight district title.

That was of little consequence to Venice head coach Brian Wheatley, who said it’s just step one.

The Indians, a perennial playoff team, and the Canes could meet again in a regional semifinal.

Manatee’s defeat didn’t toss the Canes from the state playoffs, but it means they’ll play on the road as a district runner-up.

It’s a scenario they found themselves in last year, where they defeated Venice in the region semifinals en route to the program’s third straight trip to a state semifinal.

Manatee won a state title in 2014.

“Two of the last three years we’ve had to come through here,” Cothron said. “So we’ll just have to do it again. I always hate to come here and lose, but we had a little bit of a scouting report as far as what we wanted to do. It’s hard to replicate it in the gym as far as how fast it happens. So now that they’ve gotten game knowledge and are able to use that, (Friday) we’ll be going into the practice gym and start working on ... what we need to do to get back here.”

On Thursday, the Canes (18-7) were close against the Indians, but couldn’t finish.

Some loose errors plagued Manatee, and Venice tallied more than 60 digs in the three-set victory.

That team defense, which Tessa Bohn led with 18 digs, prevented Manatee’s power hitters from controlling the tempo.

That said, JoJo Coulter paced the Canes with a team-best 15 kills. She added 10 digs, while sister Gabby Coulter had 31 assists.

Aja Jones (five kills, five blocks) and Sadler (five kills, four blocks) also contributed solid games for Manatee.

Meanwhile, Caitlin Montgomery (14 kills), Kelly Hubbard (12 kills) and Carley Faulkner (nine kills) provided Venice’s offense.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve had so many options at the net,” Wheatley said.

The big key for Wheatley’s group was staying composed all the way through each set to pull off the sweep over rival Manatee.

“We play for the dash,” Wheatley said. “You can’t control when you’re born and you can’t control when you die, but you can control everything you do. And that determines your life. Same thing with volleyball, the volleyball season. You can’t control when you start and you can’t control when you finish, but you can control the dash.”

Venice stays at home in next week’s region quarterfinal, while Manatee is on the road.

The Canes begin their quest to return to the state semifinals and beyond next Wednesday.

A potential rematch with the Indians at Venice High would happen Nov. 1, provided both teams win next week’s 8A regional quarterfinal matches.

Class 3A-District 5 Final

Out-of-Door Academy outlasted Bradenton Christian in a hard-fought match, with the Thunder defeating the Panthers 25-22, 16-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-7.

Madison Allen had six kills and 25 digs for the Panthers. Other standouts for BCS included Bailey Sikkema (8 kills, 9 blocks), Emma Laade (12 kills), Amy Van Ryn (10 kills, 9 blocks), McKenzie James (11 assists, 13 digs), Emily Eurice (23 assists) and Ashley Waldo (42 digs).

Both teams advance to next week’s region tournament.

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 10:05 PM with the headline "Manatee falls short in district volleyball final against Venice, but teams could meet again."