Area volleyball roundup
The Plant City Raiders are surging on the volleyball court in 2020, taking a 5-0 record into tonight’s home game against Bartow.
The Raiders just wrapped up a back-to-back-to-back series against Durant and Strawberry Crest with a 3-1 win over the Chargers on Sept. 16, a 3-0 win at Durant Monday and a 3-1 win at Crest on Tuesday. Plant City and Lakeland are currently the only 6A-11 teams still undefeated in district play, but the Raiders have played four district games while the Dreadnaughts have only faced George Jenkins. Plant City will host Bartow at 7:30 p.m. tonight and look for another win over the Yellow Jackets, whom they beat 3-1 in the Sept. 9 season opener.
Crest, which started the season with one win and three consecutive losses, was able to bounce back Monday with a 3-0 win at Middleton. The Chargers set the tone with a dominant 25-7 win in the first set and stayed ahead with 25-13 and 25-18 wins in the second and third sets, respectively. The Chargers will visit Armwood at 7:30 p.m. tonight for a rematch with the Hawks, against whom they opened the season with a 3-0 win in Dover.
In 7A-District 6, Durant hosted Newsome on Tuesday and lost, 3-1, The 2020 edition of the Alafia River Rivalry will get one more regular-season game — it started Sept. 19 in the Sunshine State Volleyball Invitational (where Newsome won, 2-1) and will finish Oct. 2 at Newsome. Tuesday’s game extended a recent skid for the Cougars, who started 2020 with a 3-1 record but have since dropped five in a row. Durant will look to get back on track and stay there at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Celebration (2-2).
