Southeast Volleyball Falls to Robinson in Regional Quarterfinals

TAMPA — Tampa Robinson (18-10) knocked off Southeast (7-21) on Tuesday night in five games of regional quarterfinal volleyball action.

The Seminoles were a bit of a suprise in the district tournament, sneaking past Dunedin to grab a playoff spot.

Despite its record, Southeast has a solid team, and it gave Robinson all it could handle, taking game one 28-26. The Knights fought off four game point situations and were tied at 25, only to slip up in the last seconds.

Robinson came out for game two and dominated. They went on a 12-4 run before Southeast coach Nancy Cothron called a timeout. The Knights finished strong, taking the game 25-11.

Southeast pressed back in game three and jumped out to a 4-1 lead early. Robinson junior outside hitter Alexandria Gaertner came back with three straight kill shots to help Robinson pull in front, 8-6. Gaertner and senior Katie Hogan combined for several kills and defensive blocks in the game to eventually take it 25-21.

The Seminoles came back and took game four 25-22. Senior outside hitter Brittane Hunter led the way. Robinson survived five game point situations.

The fifth tiebreaker game went back and forth with never more than two points difference. Coming out of a Seminole timeout, the Knights scored to go up 12-9, and that was it. The Knights finished out 15-9, taking the match 3-2.

Hunter blasted away at Robinson and notched a match-leading 24 kills, with seven blocks. Teammate and junior Alex Pendelton had nine kills.

"This was one of our best matches," said Cothron. "They did the things I asked them to do."

Cothron, who wrapped up her first season at the helm with the Seminoles following 16 years at Saint Stephen's, said she was pleased with her team's effort.

"They beat us, we didn't beat ourselves," she said. "That's a much better way to go out than the opposite."