MADELAIN TIGANO
The Corsair
PJC’s Lady Pirates lost their first state tournament volleyball game3-1 this morning against St. Petersburg at Polk State College in Winter Haven.
Head coach Pete Pena discussed his disappointment in his team saying, “We needed to gamble and play outside of the box.” Pena believes all teams in the state tournament are very talented and superior over PJC, but reflected that St. Petersburg, ranked third in their conference, should have been a win for his Pirates.
The first set went head-to-head between the teams as they tied most of the points in the beginning, until the score reached 15-15. Thereafter, St. Petersburg led the game 24-19. PJC made a four-point hold on St. Petersburg’s set point, but ended up short by two. St. Petersburg took the first set, 25-23.
The second set started a similar route as the first. However, the trend didn’t last long. PJC’s offense picked up the pace as Kali Pringle, sophomore, spiced the game with two stuffs and a kill putting PJC in the lead 13-9. The control continued for PJC, and they won the set 25-18.
In the third set, PJC fell behind, and St. Petersburg overpowered the match-up. PJC’s Jasmine Scott, freshman, controlled most of PJC’s points offensively and defensively. PJC tried to come back with a six-point run in the end, but it was not enough and the win went to St. Petersburg, 25-20.
The fourth set played out as an all-out battle. PJC made 12 of their points by kills, but failed to take total control. Only a few points behind, Scott hit a hard kill to St. Petersburg and the ball went out of bounds for the match point. The final score, 25-21, summed up a three-set win for St. Petersburg and ended the first tournament game.
PJC has to win tomorrow’s game at 3 p.m. to stay in the tournament.