BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Senior volleyball players participated in The Prep Zone All-Star Showcase on Dec. 2 in Alachua, with Union County’s Jurney Crim and Jordan Hendricks helping their North team win the consolation championship 2-1 over the East team, which included Bradford’s Riley Blankenship and Keystone Heights’ Taylor Marquart and Abbie Roach.
The event consisted of four all-star teams. Besides Bradford, Keystone and Union, the following schools were represented: Bell, Belleview, Branford, Buchholz, Chiefland, Columbia, Countryside Christian, Dixie County, Forest, Gainesville, Lafayette, Newberry, North Marion, Oak Hall, P.K. Yonge, Santa Fe, St. John Lutheran, Suwannee, West Port and Williston.
Head coaches were Gainesville’s Chancie Vice (East), Santa Fe’s Eric Marshall (North), Forest’s Jimmy Collins (South) and Oak Hall’s Perry McDonald (West). Assistant coaches were Gainesville’s Courtney King and P.K. Yonge’s Enrique Wiseman (East), Santa Fe’s Ashton Marshall (North), Forest’s Angel Rivera (South) and Williston’s Kevin Tiller (West).
A semifinal round got things started, with the North playing the West and the East playing the South. The winners played for the championship match, while the losers played in the consolation championship.
Hendricks recorded an assist on a kill by Santa Fe’s Jordan Czaplewski that tied the score at 11-11 in the first set of the North-West semifinal. The North team fell behind 23-14, but outscored the West 5-1 to make it a five-point game. Hendricks had two assists in helping her team close the gap before ultimately losing 25-21.
The West team won the second set 25-22 to put the North team in the consolation final.
In the other semifinal match, the South team won the first set 25-21, but the East team won the second set 30-28, with Marquart serving for the winning point.
A Roach tip led to an early point that put her East team ahead 4-3 in the third set. Roach later had a kill that gave her team an 11-6 lead.
The South team would ultimately win the set 15-11.
Hendricks had an assist on a point scored by Santa Fe’s JoseLynn Sanjurjo that put the North team up 7-6 in the first set of its consolation match against the East. A point scored with Hendricks serving later put the North team ahead 11-7.
It was 14-14 with Branford’s Kennedy Walker serving for the North, but Roach had a kill off a Marquart assist to force side-out.
The East team led 18-17 when it scored another point, thanks to Blankenship diving out of bounds for a dig that kept play alive and led to an eventual kill.
Crim was serving when her team scored a point to even it up at 19-19, but the East team would build a 24-20 lead.
The North team would score four straight points before Gainesville’s Charlotte Gravlee had a kill for side-out. That set Marquart up to earn her second set-winning point of the day, which she recorded by serving for an ace as her team survived 26-24.
Hendricks was serving to start the second set, with her team scoring the first two points. Santa Fe’s Czaplewski attempted to give her team its third straight point on a kill attempt, but Blankenship made a save that kept play alive for the East team, which had a kill for side-out.
A Hendricks assist on a kill by Suwannee’s Rachel Smith put the North team ahead 5-2. Later, the North took a 9-3 lead, scoring a point with Crim serving.
The East team got an assist from Marquart that forced a side-out and a dig from Blankenship that led to an eventual point, but it could never close the gap. The North team scored a point with Hendricks serving to go up 19-8. Then, with a 22-11 lead, it scored the final three points with Crim serving. Two of those points came off a kill and a block by Santa Fe’s Sanjurjo.
That set up a deciding third set. The North team led 4-2 when it scored eight straight points, helping it to the win. The eight-point run featured two assists by Hendricks and three straight aces by Santa Fe’s Olivia Beavers.
Every player received a Prep Zone All-Star Showcase T-shirt and plaque.
The Big Eight Specialty Officials Association provided the event’s officials.
