Volleyball: Plant tops Brandon in district showdown

Posted Sep 8, 2009 by Nick Williams

Updated Sep 8, 2009 at 09:32 PM

TAMPA In a matchup of the top two public school volleyball programs in Hillsborough County, Penn State commit and senior outside hitter Maddie Martin led Plant with 15 kills and 10 digs in a Class 6A District 8 showdown against Brandon on Tuesday.

Plant (3-0) won in scores of 25-13, 25-18, and 25-16.

Senior setter Becca Howard quarterbacked Plant’s offense with 25 assists while Duke commit Ali McCurdy added nine digs. Junior hitter Alex Johnson finished with six kills.

“They ran a fast offense and we’ve been working on picking up our hitters,” Plant coach Leanna Taylor said. “I was proud to see that.”

Brandon (1-1) didn’t muster much offense against the three-time Class 5A state champs. Many of the Eagles’ points were Plant errors.

“When you play like that, you’ll always be second in the county,” Brandon coach Amy Watson said. “We had a plan of what to do offensively and we didn’t do it. I don’t think we pushed them at all.”