CRESTVIEW — There’s still a lot of volleyball to be played before next month’s District 2-6A tournament at Fort Walton Beach High School.
And with just three schools in the district every one of the four matches each team plays is magnified even more.
Half way through district play the light is shining brightest on a talented Choctawhatchee team.
The Indians traveled to Crestview on Thursday looking to remain perfect on the season. They did just that sweeping the Bulldogs 25-18, 25-23, 25-23.
Crestview Coach Kathy Combest knows what the Bulldogs do down the road is more important than what happened Thursday night.
“It’s early,” she said. “We’ve still got a district tournament that starts a new record all over. We will just get back to work and that’s something I’m used to doing.”
“I think we made too many errors to play against a team like that, but I don’t think they scare us. I’m never going to be scared of them.”
Sophomore Kassandra Fairly and Melia Linder powered the Choctaw attack. Fairly led Choctaw (7-0, 2-0) with 10 kills. Linder added seven kills and junior Evelina Teran also had seven kills.
“We played well,” Indian coach Scott Allen said. “We executed some of the things we have been working on in practice we just need some improvement on it.
“It’s still a long way to go to where we want to be. We are undefeated now, but there’s still a lot that we are working on in practice. It’s always good to get a win, but there are still some things we need to clean up on.”
The Indians took advantage of Crestview mistakes in the first set to take the early lead.
Kills by Lakayla Robinson and Kerra Potts kept Crestview close early. The set was tied 7-7 before kills by Fairly and Linder helped the Indians start to pull away. Choctaw steadily built the lead and pushed on to take the set.
The early part of the second set was mostly Crestview (6-2, 0-2) as strong serving by Marisa Rogers coupled with good play at the net by Potts helped Crestview build a 13-9 lead before the mistakes and sloppy play helped feed an Indian rally.
An ace by Linder in the middle of a 7-0 Indian run tied the set at 18-18. A final ace by Linder put the Indians up 23-19 as Choctaw pushed through to move in front 2-0.
Choctaw jumped to a 7-2 lead in the third set and held off a hard charging Bulldog team down the stretch.
Alyssa Sehman, who topped the Indians with five aces had a hot hand in serve to start the set. Sehman also had 15 assists. Nakia McKinnie topped the Indians with 16 assists.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Choctaw upends Crestview in District 2-6A volleyball