Prep volleyball: Barron Collier wins Class 7A-District 12 title without its head coach

The Barron Collier High School volleyball team, which made it all the way to the Class 7A semifinals last year, took another big postseason step Thursday night. 

For the third time this season, the top-seeded Cougars swept third-seeded Naples, this time 25-15, 25-22, 25-15 in the District 12 championship matchup at Palmetto Ridge. 

Barron Collier (10-6) advanced to host District 11 runner-up Estero -- which lost to Fort Myers on Thursday night -- in a regional quarterfinal Wednesday, while Naples (10-11) will open regional play at Fort Myers. 

Barron Collier coach Robert Ritchie wasn't with the team Thursday night and first-year assistant Kaitlyn Ziegelmaier led the team. 

"He's taking some personal time," Ziegelmaier said of the head coach. 

Prep Volleyball 2016: Barron Collier sweeps Charlotte in Class 7A-3 for 1st regional title

Asked if Ritchie will be back for Wednesday night's regional opener, Ziegelmaier said, "He should maybe be back. We're not sure."

Barron Collier dominated despite often quite slick Naples defense and a match-high 14 kills from Golden Eagles sophomore Lilly Grasso. Grasso is the current Naples Daily News Athlete of the Week after racking up 47 kills in her previous three matches. 

Freshman Skylar English led the Cougars with nine kills. 

"She's playing a position she's not normally used to; normally she's an outside hitter," Ziegelmaier said. "We're using her height and her physicality as we move on because it's such a shame to waste such a physical player."

Barron Collier had 30 kills to 20 for Naples.

Former longtime Golden Eagles coach Rich Hubbard is in his first season back with the team.

"This was one of our best matches," Hubbard said. "We're proud with how we performed tonight even though we lost. We played with a lot of courage, a lot of heart and a lot of desire, which is what used to be our trademark at Naples High School, so hopefully it's coming back. I'm excited about what they did tonight."

The fired-up Golden Eagles got off to 3-0 lead in Set 1, but the Cougars caught them at 4-4 and soon after built a comfortable lead en route to  the 25-15 win. 

"I thought we had great momentum in the beginning and we were able to establish our offense and our defense with a strong base," Ziegelmaier said. "I also feel in the second game we got a little too relaxed and we needed to turn the balls our setters were getting our hitters a little bit better, mainly because Naples plays a little deeper on defense and we weren't catching on to that."

After back-to-back kills by senior Emma Drew gave Barron Collier a 12-7 lead, Set 2 got tight and stayed that way. Casandra Alzamora's kill for Naples tied it at 12-12. Grasso's kill brought the Golden Eagles within 23-22. But a kill from the left side by Barron Collier senior Jennifer Coxwell finished things at 25-22.

"(The Golden Eagles) were really scrappy," Ziegelmaier said. "Credit to them on their hustle and their determination to get the ball back over. I thought they were very competitive tonight."

Naples got the first two points of the third set and cut a 13-5 deficit to 13-11, but the Cougars took it to the Golden Eagles from  there for the 25-15 win. 

Alex Rebimbas is one of six Barron Collier seniors. She said this pack of Cougars is ahead of last season's pace. 

"I think we're doing better because I think we've been through a lot this season and we're all just coming back together and we're all playing a lot better than we were at the beginning," said Rebimbas, who had six kills.

"I'm excited. I want to win (the state title) this year. Everyone wants to win and I think we should win."

Regional quarterfinal pairings

Wednesday

Class 8A

Manatee at Gulf Coast

Class 7A

Naples at Fort Myers

Estero at Barron Collier

Class 6A

Dunedin at Lely

Class 5A

Community School at Tampa-Berkeley Prep

Regional semifinal pairings

Class 3A

First Baptist at Sarasota-Out-of-Door