SIDELINES: Pirates win in their annual home beach volleyball match

Matanzas High School’s beach volleyball team plays one “home match” a year at the two sand courts at Wadsworth Park.

The Pirates honor their seniors. Craig Lenninger, the director of beach volleyball at DME Academy in Daytona Beach, provides music and play-by-play announcing.

A sizeable crowd watched Matanzas defeat DeLand 3-2 at Wadsworth on April 12. It was the Pirates’ second win of the season.

“Normally, not a lot of people see us,” said senior Charley Robinson. “We always play right after school at DME or Jacksonville Episcopal.”

The Pirates’ winning doubles teams were Charley Robinson and Senna Thayer at No. 1 (21-17, 21-16); Maria Kelly and Faith Purvis at No. 3 (21-16, 21-18); and Jaeda West and Mino Furuta at No. 5 (21-12, 21-17).

After the match, the Pirates honored seniors Robinson, Kelly, Taylor Foley and Kimmy Truhe.

“We don’t usually have this,” Foley said. “It’s amazing what they do for us here.”

This is the second year the Florida High School Athletic Association is officially recognizing beach volleyball as a sport, hosting state playoffs. Matanzas district rival New Smyrna Beach won the FHSAA’s first state championship last year.

This year, the Pirates have a new coach in Brittany Watts, who took over for Dawn Moses, the Pirates’ indoor volleyball coach, who is also DME’s director of indoor volleyball.

Watts, an electrician, joined Matanzas girls basketball coach Brittany Marts’ staff this school year. She was asked before the season if she would like to also lead the beach volleyball team. Watts played basketball and volleyball at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford, but, being from Pennsylvania, she was not familiar with the beach version of the sport.

“Just before the season, I watched a lot of YouTube videos,” she said. “I’ve been learning as I go. This is a rebuilding year for the team and for me. We’re learning all together.”

“She’s new to this,” said Foley. “But she really pushes us to get better every day. She has incredible coaching skills. She’s very passionate, not only about the game, but her players too.”

The players enjoy beach volleyball because it’s more laid-back, and with just two players on a team, they each get to touch the ball more.

“You have to cover more of the court, and you have to be able to do everything,” Robinson said.

Foley said she plans to continue playing beach volleyball on her own after she graduates.

“I’m not done,” she said. “I’m trying to play in open tournaments around the state. And hopefully I’ll be able to play in college later on.”

MISSING BLOWFISH AND MISO SOUP

Matanzas beach volleyball player Mino Furuta won her match with teammate Jaeda West on April 12 against DeLand. She never played beach volleyball before this season. She never even played indoor volleyball before.

But there are a lot of things the exchange student from Japan had never done before this year, such as going to the beach.

Assistant coach Jeri Thayer invited her to join the team. She accepted.

“Beach volleyball sounds so Florida,” Furuta said.

Furuta had wanted to go to school in the United States since she was young when she watched Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel.

When she got older, she and her mom traveled to nearby Osaka on weekends to watch American musicals.

She said her coaches and teammates are helping her improve her volleyball skills.

Even though she said people had trouble understanding her English at the beginning of the school year, everyone has made her feel welcome, she said. Her host mom, who is from Japan, cooks Japanese food for her.

“But I do miss my blowfish and miso soup,” she said.

FPC GIRLS TENNIS SECOND AT DISTRICT 

Flagler Palm Coast’s girls tennis team finished as the runner-up to Spruce Creek in the District 2-4A tournament on April 10 to advance to the estate playoffs.

The Bulldogs traveled to Creekside High in St. Johns County on Tuesday, April 8, for a regional quarterfinal dual match.

At district, four FPC players advanced to finals — Ania Martynuk at No. 2 singles, Marina Carlisi at No. 3, Tatiana Leontayva at No. 4, Tessa Carlisi at No. 5 (no finals played) and Marina Carlisi and Leontayva at No. 2 doubles.

FPC, MATANZAS BASEBALL

The Flagler Palm Coast baseball team was scheduled to face New Smyrna Beach in a Five Star Conference semifinal on the night of April 18.

FPC fell to 11-10 with a 6-4 loss to East River on April 17 on senior night. Seniors Brayden Stuart and Tristan Miller each went 2 for 4. Senior Dalton Schell drove in two runs. Stuart smacked a double with an RBI and a run scored.

Matanzas also held its senior night on April 18. The Pirates fell to 5-10 with a 7-5 loss to Baker County. The visitors scored two runs in the top of the seventh inning to take the lead.

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