BAKER — Gator volleyball Coach Tommiko Parks, fresh from Baker School’s loss to Sneads in the Region 1-1A finals, turns her thoughts to next season.
“We are losing two seniors (Brittany Brunson and Ashley Black — three counting Lena Daoud, who was injured earlier in the season)," she said. "We will have four seniors (Taylor Brunson, Emily Stewart, Whitley Taylor and Amanda Parisi) coming back.
"It’s going to be exciting.”
Players joining the team will be well prepared, she said.
“We are able to work with the girls from the sixth grade on because of the kind of school (K-12) we are,” she said. “We sort of plan for the future, so to speak, without overlooking anything. But we’ve got a good team coming back.
The Gators have won 13 consecutive district championships and made 23 straight playoff appearances. But for all of their success, they have yet to capture a state championship.
Sneads — the two-time defending Class 1A volleyball champions, who beat Baker in the 2013 state finals — swept the Gators 25-20, 25-18 and 25-18 on Saturday.
“We prepared from the first day of practice — we knew that we would be here at this point and time,” Parks said. “We knew what we had to do. Unfortunately, we didn’t execute as well as we thought we should have.
“But Sneads is an excellent team. The things they do, they do well, and that means you have to be that much more on top of your game.”
Sneads (24-6) started the first set with a 6-0 run, with Ashlyn Roberts in serve. Her serve was like a cross between a slider and a knuckle curve in baseball; it comes in low and hard, and takes a nasty break at the end.
The quick Pirate start signaled things to come. Baker’s first point came on a net violation for Sneads.
At one point, it was 10-1 in the first set, but the Gators (16-11) wouldn’t go away. Emily Stewart and Ayajah Coleman led a Gator comeback that saw Baker cut Sneads’ lead to 24-20 before a Madison Pickens kill finished off the set.
The Gators never threatened Sneads in the second set as the Pirates opened a 9-1 lead and cruised to the win, going up 2-0 in the match.
Baker did its best to hold on to home court in the third set. A Sneads net violation, and an Ashley Black kill for Baker, put the Gators up 2-0. The Pirates came back, taking a 3-2 lead, and never trailed again.
Baker tied the set at 3-3, 10-10, 11-11, 13-13 and 14-14, before the Pirates pulled away to take the match.
Emily Stewart led Baker with six kills. Lindsey Stewart had eight assists and two digs.
Taylor Brunson, Coleman, Black and Railey Conner each had two kills.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker Gators will have to wait for championship