NICEVILLE — With District 1-7A rival Crestview in town, Niceville coach John Michael Plummer was asked to shed light on just who his Eagles viewed as county rivals.
Considering Niceville's success not only this year but in previous seasons, it was a legitimate question.
He promptly answered it by reeling off the usual suspects: Fort Walton Beach, Choctaw, and of course, Crestview.
But the Bulldogs, while coming off a 20-plus-win, playoff season from a year ago, entered with a losing streak to the Eagles that extends to more than a decade back.
Despite a valiant effort at a comeback, that losing streak lived on Tuesday night.
Stephanie Kaufman, Sami Mims and Erin Batcho delivered double-digit kills each, Bayley McMenimen looked sharp with 33 assists and the Eagles (7-1, 4-0) won their seventh straight with a 25-17, 25-23, 15-25, 25-19 District 1-7A win over the Bulldogs(2-5, 0-2).
"Energy's a big thing we've been focusing on and we brought that tonight," said Plummer, whose team hasn't dropped a match since getting swept by Mosley in the opener.
In a balanced offense, Kaufman was the kill leader with 12, followed by 11 from Mims and 10 from Batcho.
"That's what we're trying to focus on is getting everyone involved and getting those middles going and getting our outsides going," Plummer said.
Making it all possible is the "quarterback" of the team: McMenimen.
"Just really good distribution from our freshman setter," Plummer said.
Crestview's Marisa Rogers looked impressive as well dishing out a team-best 16 assists to go along with seven kills. The majority of those went to Kierra Potts, who pounded out a team-high 18 kills.
The duo was the catalyst behind Crestview's dominant third-set win, but the Bulldogs couldn't close out leads time and time again. For instance, in the second set the Bulldogs led 23-20. But McMenimen fed Batcho and Mims for kills and served up two aces, the last to cap a 25-23 win and put the Eagles up 2-0.
Later, after Crestview rebounded with a 25-15 win, the Bulldogs jumped out to 8-2 lead. But again, the advantage didn't hold as Niceville went on a 10-2 run and never looked back. Batcho and Kaufman delivered four kills each and McMenimen had 13 assists in the final set to cap the 25-19 victory.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Niceville downs Crestview in volleyball