Lady Commodores sit atop Sun-Lakes after road wins

At this time last year, Gulf Coast was 4-7 overall under new coach Scott Allen and 0-2 after their first weekend of play in the Sun-Lakes Conference.

In Allen’s second year at the helm, the Lady Commodores now sit at 10-3 and 2-0 against league competition after notching a pair of road wins against Pasco-Hernando State and South Florida State over the weekend.

Gulf Coast defeated Pasco-Hernando State in four sets Friday in New Port Richey, and then swept South Florida State in Avon Park.

That came just a few days after knocking off former Panhandle Conference rival Pensacola State in three at the Billy Harrison Field House.

All in all, it was a pretty eventful and impressive stretch of play for the Lady Commodores.

"It was a great week all around for us," Allen said. "It had kind of been on our radar and circled on the calendar. We knew it was gonna be a big week for us."

Rachel Passarello led Gulf Coast with 12 kills in Friday’s victory, followed by Emma Richards with nine, Amber Grant with seven, and Jordyn Schramm with six.

It was a homecoming of sort for Land ‘O Lakes graduates Passarello and Schramm, with Allen saying that ended up playing into Gulf Coast’s favor.

"It probably helped with the crowd," he said. "I would say that when our girls from the area were scoring it was probably the loudest points of the night and the most energy. Not only that, but those girls actually had one of their best matches of the year. It was a fun night."

The Lady Commodores had a quick turnaround against South Florida State and Allen said it showed in their lack of sharpness and execution, but they still managed to take care of business in three sets: 25-17, 25-21, 25-23.

Richards led GC with five kills in the win, while Ava Shmueli was tops with 26 assists, and Lily Davis with 15 digs.

It was the sixth straight victory for the Lady Commodores and the ninth in their last 10 outings.

"The girls are playing well," Allen said. "In the last match we were a hair off, but overall we’ve been progressing and climbing all season. That’s exactly what you want to see. You don’t want to be playing your best volleyball at the beginning of the season. You want to be playing your best at the end."

Gulf Coast is now alone in first place in the Sun-Lakes standings without a home conference match.

That will come Saturday against Florida Gateway College at 1 p.m., in a rematch of the Lady Commodores’ four-set victory in Ocala on Aug. 23 in the second match of the season.

Allen said his team is much further along than it was in that first neutral site meeting.

"We were still finding what rotations worked best for us and what players are actually going to give us in real matches and not just scrimmages or practices," he said. "We were still moving things around to get everybody looks. We had a newer rotation with newer players playing, so it just took them a little bit to get going.

"I think if we’re playing efficient (Saturday) it will be a pretty good result for us."