FORT WALTON BEACH — Crestview High School’s volleyball team will be looking for its first District 2-6A win Thursday when it hosts Fort Walton Beach. And unfortunately for the Bulldogs it will be their last chance to pick up a district win before the district tournament starts later this month.
In the three-team district there is little margin for error and every match is extra important in the hunt for district seeding.
Crestview knows where it will finish in the regular season district standings after Monday’s match at Choctawhatchee. The Bulldogs will be the three seed no matter what happens Thursday thanks to a straight set loss to the Indians.
The Bulldogs made things interesting at times, but the Indians remained in control throughout the evening. When all was said and done Choctaw had upped its record to 3-1 in district play sweeping Crestview 25-13, 25-15, 25-20.
“The way we played wasn’t anything I anticipated,” Crestview Coach Kathy Combest said. “We worked on stuff and watched film.
“I just think they didn’t come over here ready to play. In the first game I could tell something wasn’t gelling.”
The Bulldogs (15-5, 0-3) got off to a quick start when Cailey Ness scored the first point of the match on a kill. The teams traded points and Crestview briefly led 5-3 before Choctaw (11-3) went on a 7-0 run to take control the set.
Once the Indians took the lead in the first set it they were able to pull away behind strong play at the net.
Evelina Teran and Alyssa Sehman sparked the run with deadly sets and kills.
Crestview tried to rally with big hits from Christa Johnson and Olivia Potts, but it was to no avail as Choctaw was too strong down the stretch.
The Bulldogs showed signs of life in the second set with Ness and Johnson leading the way. Crestview led 8-6 when Choctaw came to life with an 11-3 run to move in front 17-11. Teran finished off the set with a kill to put the Indian up 2-0 in the match.
Crestview’s best chance to get back into the match came in the third set as Potts dominated for the Bulldogs.
A kill and a block by Potts helped Crestview to an 8-4 lead, but once again the Indians came back with Kassandra Fairly and Britney Krueger helping lead the way.
Crestview led 19-18 when the Indians went on a 7-2 run to close things out.
The match ended with the Bulldogs allowing Choctaw to score on an unforced error.
“We were better than where we’ve been,” Indian Coach Scott Allen said. “We are executing better some of the things we are working on. We still have to get better, but they showed a lot of improvement tonight.
“They stayed relaxed even we were down six or seven points in the last set. That’s something we’ve been talking about a lot – whether we are 10 points up or 10 points down – having the same mental outlook and we did a much better job of that tonight.”
The Indians can clinch the number one seed in the upcoming district tournament and a spot in the playoffs if Crestview beats Fort Walton Beach on Thursday. If the Vikings beat the Bulldogs then they are the top seed in the district by virtue of a coin toss held after Monday’s match.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview's volleyball team falls to Choctaw