Port St. Joe volleyball earns season’s first win

After four consecutive losses, the Port St. Joe volleyball team earned their first victory of the season with a 3-1 win over the visiting FAMU Baby Rattlers of Tallahassee on Tuesday, September 13.

“We’ve still got some work to do,” said Tiger Shark coach Lissa Walker, “but it’s coming together. We’ve got good parts, and we have to find that missing link.”

In the first set, St. Joe ran off six consecutive points behind the serving of Alexis Price only to have the lead slip away until FAMU took the set 25-23, despite Hailey Green’s five consecutive service points to briefly put the Sharks ahead 23-22.

St. Joe overcame a 22-14 deficit in the second set to tie the score behind the serving of Chelsea Bishop, and with the score knotted at 23-all, Price served the final two Tiger Shark points for the 25-23 win.

St. Joe took the third set by another 25-23 score, and once again Price served the final two Shark points, giving her a total of eight service points for the set.

As in the previous sets, multiple lead changes occurred before St. Joe won the match in an unorthodox way.

With the Sharks ahead 25-24 and Tyshawn Shackleford serving, one of the officials whistled the play dead as the ball sailed over the net. Signaling that FAMU had committed a rotation violation, he awarded the point to St. Joe, who clinched the match with a 26-24 win.

“Overall,” said Walker, “our hustle was good, our serving was good. We still have work to do, but I thought it was a good game.”

St. Joe, now 1-4, hosts Franklin County on Thursday, September 15. The Seahwaks defeated Wewahitchka in five sets Tuesday night. FAMU dropped to 2-5.