Nease High School only lost one set in two matches during their path to a convincing boys volleyball district title.
The Panthers swept the Bartram Trail High Bears in three matches during the championship tilt on Thursday, May 1, just two days after handing Beachside High a 3-1 defeat in a semifinal contest.
The outcome was not a surprise in many ways as the Panthers entered the district tournament as the top seed and defeated the Bears in their two prior meetings during the regular season.
According to senior outside hitter Ryan Centeno, the team seemed to mesh well early on because they had a lot of returning players from a year ago, and that cohesion on the court just continued to grow throughout the season.
“We’ve got a great group of people here in the program, and its just such a welcoming environment and an amazing community,” Centeno said.
“We definitely improved throughout the year with both offense and defense, and just when it came to knowing our positions,” senior libero Tristan Evans said.
Evans has been playing volleyball since elementary school, and he has enjoyed it the entire way and now can graduate high school as a district champion.
With the win, the Panthers clinched a spot in the state tournament and will enter the playoffs with a record of 19-6.
However, even 19 wins and cruising to a district title has the Panthers wanting even more and they know that means continuing to hone the aspects of the game they can continue to improve.
“There’s always something that we can improve on, no matter how many times we win,” sophomore setter Brandon Centeno said.
