Volleyball districts start Monday

The road to Kissimmiee, Fla., gets underway locally with the district volleyball tournaments for Pace, Milton, Jay and Central. For Pace and Milton the road starts in Navarre where the Lady Patriots have the number one seed after finishing with a perfect 14-0 mark in district action and losing only three games all season. While Pace is ready, Milton is getting ready for a bigger challenge as they face tournament host Navarre on Tuesday after going 8-12 overall under first year head coach Chelsey Adams. "To be successful in the tournament we have to play with confidence, to our potential, and believe that we are a good team," Adams said. "We are able to compete with any team in our district. "We have struggled with confidence issues, but we can play with any one if they choose to." The Lady Panthers, whose highlight this season was a four set win over Pensacola Catholic, will face Navarre at 7 p.m. The other district tournament will be held in Allentown and will be hosted by the Lady Jaguars of Central High. While it should be an interesting tournament for Central and Jay, the Lady Royals have a goal in mind. "We just want to make it to the championship game and get to the playoffs," said Jay head coach Scott Campbell. "It would be the second year in a row and that is something that hasn't been done since 1989." For Jay, who earned the number two seed, the season started out slow despite finishing at 11-6 to earn the second seed. "During the summer we were not very good," Campbell said. "We had a camp at the end of the summer and implements those drills at our practice and we feel like we have continued to get better." The long season at one point caught up to the Lady Royals, who start two freshman and two sophomores, but they have gotten their second wind headed into their first round match against Northview. "The season sort of dragged on for the younger players," Campbell said. "Now I feel like they have caught their second wind. "Our key in the first round is to play well at the net against Northview and serve the ball well."  

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Volleyball districts start Monday