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District volleyball preview

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BY ERIC HORCHY

THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: October 25, 2008

It's district volleyball time this week and the usual North Suncoast suspects are all at the top of their respective standings once again.

Class 4A, district 8 will kick things off Monday at Wiregrass Ranch, followed by Districts 5A-7 (at Ridgewood) and 6A-7 (at Gaither) beginning play Tuesday.

DISTRICT 5A-7 at Ridgewood (Oct. 28-30)

River Ridge (20-4, 8-0) is the toast of Pasco County for another year and will be looking to extend its streak of qualifying for regional play to 11 seasons.

As the District 5A-7 No. 1 seed, the Royal Knights' only losses have come during invitation tournament play. During last weekend's Southeast High Lady Noles Tournament in Bradenton, River Ridge nearly won the event, going 4-1, and had outside hitter Alex Laton named to the all-tournament team.

The squad also opened their season with 10 straight 3-0 victories, not losing their first game until a 3-2 victory over Mitchell. An awakened Ridgewood team and Central High will most likely battle it out for second place. The top two teams advance to regionals.

DISTRICT 6A-7 at Gaither (Oct. 28-30)

Mitchell (14-8, 7-3) will come into districts hoping to finish at least where it starts the tournament: in the No. 2 slot.

The Mustangs have endured a roller coaster of a season, looking like a capable force one match and then off during another.

Standing in their way this week is perennial power and undefeated Countryside High. The Cougars are 23-0 and have only dropped two games all year.

A rebuilding Sickles High team - who Mitchell split with in the regular season - is still a rival to be reckoned with and poses as the Mustangs biggest threat to miss out on the postseason again.

DISTRICT 4A-8 at Wiregrass Ranch (Oct. 27-31)
Nature Coast Tech (22-2, 16-0) has been the team to beat all year long and ran the table in 4A-8 competition. They enter as the top seed with Hudson (17-7, 12-2) nipping at their heels. The Sharks took out Hudson 3-0 and 3-2 during the season, but the Cobras enter tournament play on an eight game winning streak against area teams.

Host Wiregrass Ranch has been a surprise within the district and is a No. 3 seed, but Nature Coast and Hudson each put away the Bulls with relative ease.

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