High school volleyball: Barron Collier beats Port Charlotte for 7A regional title

For a relatively young group, the Barron Collier High School volleyball players have nerves of steel.

The Cougars didn’t panic Tuesday when they dropped the first set at home to Port Charlotte in the Class 7A-Region 3 final. They didn’t wilt under pressure when the Pirates held a lead in every set of the night.

Barron Collier remained confident because it has been here before.

Just like in the regional semifinals, the Cougars fell behind early, but stormed back to win. Barron Collier beat Port Charlotte 20-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-22.

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“We said, ‘We have to put everything out here right now,’” Cougars junior libero Olivia D’Agostino said. “We had to push through it. We had nothing to lose so we went out there and pushed with everything we’ve got.”

Barron Collier won its third consecutive regional title. The Cougars play in the 7A semifinals at Stuart-South Fork at 2 p.m. Saturday. Barron Collier lost at South Fork in the state final four in 2016 after winning the first regional championship in program history.

The Cougars might appear young. They have three seniors who play a significant amount, and they graduated half of their team from a year ago. Plus they have a first-time head coach on the sideline.

But Barron Collier is older than it seems. Most of the starters played last postseason when the Cougars made it all the way to the Class 7A championship match before finishing state runner-up. Even coach Yamil Del Valle is more experienced, having coaching in the state finals as an assistant at Seacrest.

Barron Collier trailed by three points in the second set. Port Charlotte erased a six-point deficit to tie the score late in the third set. The fourth set was a nail-biter, with neither team leading by more than a point until the end.

Yet each time, the Cougars refused to back down from revenge-minded Port Charlotte. The Pirates also lost at Barron Collier in last year’s regional championship match.

“Our players have experience, and that helped us,” Cougars senior outside hitter Jennifer Coxwell said. “We needed to keep pushing and we knew how, because we weren’t going to lose.”

Coxwell led Barron Collier's offense with 14 kills. Sophomore outsider hitter Skylar English and junior outsider hitter Hannah Alfes had 10 kills each. D'Agostino had a team-high 18 digs, while English added 35 assists.

Tuesday's regional final was similar to last week's match, when the Cougars dropped the first set at home to Fort Myers. Barron Collier fought back and ended up winning in five sets.

Barron Collier had to overcome adversity before the match even began. Starting setter Hope Casella was ill and had to miss the first set.

“We had to change our mentality,” sophomore outside hitter Skylar English said. “We weren’t going to let that affect it. We had to come out stronger, which is what we did.”

Also in the first set, D’Agostino, the starting libero, fell and hit her head and had to sit out momentarily.

“You gotta push through those,” D’Agostino said with a laugh.

HIGH SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL

Regional pairings

Quarterfinals

Wednesday, Oct. 24

Class 8A

Lakewood Ranch 3, Riverdale 2

Venice 3, Gulf Coast 0

Class 7A

Barron Collier 3, Estero 0

Class 6A

Tarpon Springs 3, Mariner 0

Lely 3, Dunedin 0

Class 5A

Cardinal Mooney 3, Community School 0

Bishop Verot 3, Tampa-Holy Names 1

Thursday, Oct. 25

Class 7A

Fort Myers 3, Palmetto Ridge 0

Semifinals

Tuesday, Oct. 30

Class 7A

Barron Collier 3, Fort Myers 2

Class 6A

Tarpon Springs 3, Lely 0

Class 5A

Cardinal Mooney 3, Bishop Verot 0

Tuesday, Oct. 23

Class 3A

First Baptist 3, Sarasota Christian 0

Sarasota-Out-of-Door 3, Canterbury 0

Finals

Tuesday, Nov. 6

Class 7A

Barron Collier 3, Port Charlotte 1

Tuesday, Oct. 30

Class 3A

First Baptist 3, Sarasota-Out-of-Door 0

State semifinals

Saturday, Nov. 10

Class 7A

Barron Collier at Stuart-South Fork, 2 p.m.

Class 3A

First Baptist at Doral-Divine Savior Academy, 2 p.m.