The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Kevin Weiss

Solid haul!

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(Courtesy of John Medvid)

Dave Panno, left, and Ken Willis teamed up to win first place at the South Pasco Bassmasters (SPBM) September tournament, hauling in five bass totaling 24.11 pounds at Lake Panasoffkee.

The duo caught their fish using plastic trick worms and chatter bait in 7 feet of water in a mixture of hydrilla and eel grass.

The next SPBM tournament is Oct. 19 at the Kissimmee Chain.

For information on the fishing club, visit southpascobassmasters.com

Bellamy Brothers headline Rattlesnake Festival

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The Bellamy Brothers are returning to a local festival that launched the beginning of their iconic country music career five decades ago.

Darby natives and residents Howard and David Bellamy will headline a special concert at the 53rd annual Rattlesnake Festival on Oct. 18 at 7 p.m., at the Pasco County Fairgrounds’ Dan Cannon Auditorium, 36722 State Road 52 in Dade City.

The duo will be available to sign autographs at their merchandise tables following their hour-and-a-half long performance.

The concert serves as a prelude to the traditional festival days on Oct. 19 and Oct. 20.

The Bellamy Brothers are scheduled to perform a special concert at the Rattlesnake Festival on Oct. 18. It marks their first appearance at the festival in about 40 years, event organizers say. (Courtesy of Rattlesnake Festival)

The Rattlesnake Festival marked The Bellamy Brothers’ first official gig back in 1968 — where Howard and David performed on stage with their father at San Antonio Park.

The Bellamys continued to play the festival for several years prior to the the release of their 1976 chart-topping country pop hit, “Let Your Love Flow,” which spearheaded a career of 20 No. 1 hits and 40 million album sales worldwide.

In an exclusive interview with The Laker/Lutz News, Howard Bellamy said he’s looking forward to returning to the Rattlesnake Festival and host a concert for his hometown community.

“There’s no place we love better. We’ve toured in 72 countries and somehow we always come back to Darby, Florida,” Howard, 73, said.

“It’s a special place and special people around, so when they got this all together and asked us, we jumped right on. It’s very special and you get to see a lot of old friends you haven’t seen forever.”

He added, “We’re always grateful to be back home because this is where it started and this is where it will end.”

Howard and 69-year-old David Bellamy graduated from Pasco High School in the 1960s before embarking on their successful music career.

They spend any downtime amid their frenetic showbiz schedule on their 200-acre family ranch in Darby, just outside the Dade City limits.

When they return to town next month, The Bellamy Brothers will be fresh off an overseas tour that takes them to Norway and Sweden. They’ll immediately head out for a show in North Carolina following the Dade City concert. “We should be well-rehearsed,” Howard quipped.

Howard said the special concert’s set list “definitely” will include “Let Your Love Flow” and several other hit tracks. He noted there also will be some cuts from the band’s latest studio album, “Over the Moon,” which released in February.

“You know, we do as many hits as we can during the show, and we thank God we have enough of them that we have a choice, so people want to hear the hits,” Howard said.

Known for their busy ways, the Bellamys’ appearance comes in the midst of filming the third season of their reality television show, “Honky Tonk Ranch,” airing on the Cowboy Channel. Howard said the band is also working on several other projects with other artists.

“We’re always up to something,” he said.

The Bellamy Brothers’ last appearance at the festival came about 40 years ago, according to Joe Simmons, executive director of the Thomas Promise Foundation that puts on the Rattlesnake Festival.

Simmons said he tried to book The Bellamy Brothers for the event a few years ago, but they were on another road tour at the time.

The event organizer went about getting in touch with the band’s manager earlier this time around, to try to work the Rattlesnake Festival into the band’s lineup that includes roughly 150 tour dates every year.

Simmons’ friendship with David Bellamy’s son, Noah, also helped get things rolling.

“I tried to put a bug in his ear about talking to his dad about them being able to come out to the festival,” Simmons said. “We’re just appreciative that everything worked out to where we could bring them back to the festival. You know, everybody loves The Bellamy Brothers.”

Simmons acknowledged The Bellamy Brothers’ forthcoming appearance has generated extra buzz for the weekend long festival.

“Everybody’s excited,” he said. “Everybody loves it when the Bellamys come back home and play and, for us to be able to accommodate that and bring them back, it was a win-win situation.”

All proceeds raised from the Rattlesnake Festival will go toward the Thomas Promise Foundation, which provides meals and other programs to food-insecure children. It is the nonprofit organization’s largest fundraiser of the year.

The Bellamy Brothers concert is described as an “intimate affair,” with 528 total seats available.

Beer and wine will be offered inside the auditorium during the concert. Proof of age is required. Food will be available from vendors outside the auditorium.

General admission seats are numbered for reservation and tickets come in two tiers: closer seats cost $75 and seats further back cost $40.

Corporate tables are comprised of eight seats and include unlimited beer and wine, and are available for $1,500 per table and must be bought as a full table. Businesses purchasing tables also get their logo on the festival banner.

Tickets may be purchased by visiting RattlesnakeFestival.com, or by calling (813) 312-7119.

53rd annual Rattlesnake Festival

When: Oct. 18, Bellamy Brothers Concert; Oct. 19 and Oct. 20, festival activities

Where: Pasco County Fairgrounds, 36722 State Road 52, Dade City

What: Food, arts & crafts, live music, wildlife, children’s games, and local history are highlighted each year. Family fun and entertainment are a main focus of the event.

Cost: $5 public admission, free for ages 2 and under; Bellamy Brothers concert tickets sold separately.

Info: Visit RattlesnakeFestival.com, or call (813) 782-0000.

Published September 25, 2019

New sports complex expected to attract national events

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With concrete footers poured and steel beams heading vertical, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex is a step closer to its much-anticipated opening.

The $44 million sports complex is targeted for a mid-July 2020 soft opening — more than two years after a celebrated groundbreaking ceremony that marked the beginning of construction at 3211 Lajuana Blvd., in Wesley Chapel.

Once completed, the 98,000-square-foot indoor space will feature a multipurpose sports layout that accommodates up to eight basketball courts or 16 volleyball courts, plus a separate competitive cheer and dance studio, fitness and athletic training center, and other amenities.

Concrete footers and steel beams represent construction progress on the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex. The 98,000-square-foot facility is anticipated to be a regional and national draw for youth and amateur sports. (Courtesy of RADD Sports)

Besides primarily basketball, volleyball and cheer offerings, the Pasco County-owned facility also will be able to accommodate martial arts, wrestling, gymnastics, curling, badminton, soccer, lacrosse and pickleball.  Secondary uses of the complex will include conventions, banquets, exhibits, concerts and so on.

Originally, the facility was expected to open later this year.

But, the project experienced some delays.

“That goes with a major development project like this,” said Richard Blalock, president and CEO of RADD Sports, the private sports management company tasked with operating and managing the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex.

Those delays included inclement weather, permitting issues and redesigns of the facility to make it hurricane-resistant, Blalock said.

“When you’ve got as many moving parts that’s involved in this project, it’s just a matter of getting all the contracts lined up, and the contractor online and bids opened,” he said.

The facility is being promoted as a regional and national attraction.

The indoor gym on weekdays will operate as a community-based sports center where local youth, adults and seniors will be able to practice and play.

Weekends, meanwhile, will be set aside to play host to national travel tournaments, competitions and other events to generate hotel stays and tax revenues for the county.

The facility’s first weekend tournaments aren’t expected to be booked until around October 2020, Blalock said.

The target is scheduling roughly 25 to 30 weekend events during the first full year and then grow it from there, Blalock said.

He mentioned RADD Sports already has received numerous inquiries from youth and amateur sports organizations asking about the facility’s availability.

“We’ve got ‘em lined up now, wanting to sign,” Blalock said.

The complex also will host a series of weeklong sports camps each July or August, which Blalock said otherwise is a slow period in the travel sports marketplace.

Those camps would allow for local school sports teams to get advanced instruction and match up against teams from all over the country, Blalock said.

“They’re not going to have to travel very much and we’re bringing all the competition in, so it’ll be a good marriage,” he said.

Not unlike nearby AdventHealth Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex figures each year to draw hundreds, if not thousands, of youth and amateur travel sports teams and their families.

The $44 million Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex is scheduled to open in mid-July next year.

Officials are excited about the prospects for Pasco County tourism.

Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, who chairs the county’s tourist development council, suggests the facility will be “a huge boon for the local economy.”

Said Moore, “People travel from all over the nation to go these tournaments and these facilities. They all have to stay in hotels, they’re all eating in restaurants, they’re all buying the gas.”

Moore said projections show the facility will generate annual revenues of roughly $4 million to $4.5 million each of first five years or so in operation, not including additional hotel and retail tax revenues generated.

The commissioner emphasized that it’s key for those traveling visitors to stay overnight locally instead of heading to Hillsborough County. It’s something he’s assured will happen, pointing out the county already has 38 hotels “with more coming.”

Moore explained: “Previously, when there’s a lot of tournaments that came into the county, a lot of the families were staying in Hillsborough County, so a lot of the local businesses didn’t see that revenue. Well now, we can handle those families, we can handle these tournaments.”

To take it another step further, Moore said the county’s tourism department is developing a marketing campaign to encourage the myriad sports travel teams and visitors to explore the county’s other offerings, outside the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex. The county’s tourism arm officially rebranded itself as “Florida’s Sports Coast” earlier this year.

Said Moore, “We want them to take the day and maybe go rent a boat and go kayaking or go fishing with one of our guides, or hit some of the islands. That’s another benefit for the families coming — great activities outside of the sports or watching their kids play.”

Outdoor offerings on tap, too
The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex will be more than just an indoor space.

The complex eventually will include seven outdoor sports fields, an amphitheater with an event lawn, walking trails, pavilions and a playground. There also will be an adjacent 128-room Marriott Residence Inn built with private funds by Mainsail Development Group.

Many of those features are expected to be finished in Phase II of the project, about a year or so later, officials say.

The entire complex is being built on 80 acres of land donated years ago by the Porter family, developers of Wiregrass Ranch.

Several proposals for some type of sports facility on the land fell apart over the years, including one for a baseball complex in 2015.

But, with the mix of indoor and outdoor components, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex provides “the biggest bang for our taxpayers’ buck,” Moore said.

“It’ll be a really big thing for the area,” the commissioner said. “When you think about the area, there’s really nothing like this around here at all. And, if you see how well similar facilities do, this is going to be strong.”

He added: “It’s nice to obviously see the progress that’s being made. It won’t be long. It’ll be done before we know it. It’ll sneak right up on us.”

Meanwhile, the complex adds to a growing list of premier sports offerings in the East Pasco area — with construction underway on a multi-million tennis center in Zephyrhills and preliminary plans for a multi-million outdoor aquatics center in Land O’ Lakes. Even Cypress Creek Middle High, in Wesley Chapel, with its a state-of-the-art rubberized running track and field space has been highly regarded for hosting events.

Blalock underscored what all that could mean for the county’s quest to position itself as a sports tourism destination: “For the most part, we’ll be able to run any type of Olympic event in a short radius, and it’s crazy. There’s nowhere I’m aware of in the southeast, or anywhere in the country really, that can really do that.”

He also posited this: “If everyone in the community pulls together and we work together, and all the facilities work together, it could really, truly become an amateur sports destination that equals nowhere else.”

Published September 25, 2019

Student-athletes earn academic recognition

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Saint Leo University recently honored its top student-athletes for success in the classroom.

(Courtesy of Saint Leo University Athletics)

Fifty-four Saint Leo athletes across 14 different teams were recognized as President’s Club members for the Spring 2019 semester.

The President’s Club was established in 2001 to honor the top 15% academically among all Saint Leo student-athletes.

Of the 54 athletes recognized, 13 earned a 4.0 GPA, with the average GPA among the honorees being a 3.95.

Earlier this month, Saint Leo president Dr. Jeffrey Senese and his wife hosted the honorees at his residence, the Scanlan Moore House, in Lake Jovita. Guests included Saint Leo coaches, faculty mentors, administrators and members of the president’s staff.

Last year the school’s athletic department set a new standard with a 3.22 GPA, up from the previously set mark of 3.21 in 2014.

Former Gaither High star joins Houston Texans

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Former Gaither High School/Florida International University (FIU) quarterback Alex McGough was recently added to the Houston Texans 53-man active roster.

(File)

The 23-year-old McGough joined the active roster from the Texans’ practice squad on Sept. 10. He is listed as the team’s third-string quarterback behind Deshaun Watson and AJ McCarron, respectively.

The 6-foot-3, 214-pound signal-caller was selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the seventh round of the 2018 NFL Draft and spent the 2018 season on the team’s practice squad.

In the offseason, McGough signed a reserves/future contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars, but was waived in August. He signed with the Texans in September.

McGough graduated from Gaither in 2014.

There, McGough registered nearly 5,000 passing yards and 50 passing touchdowns in three varsity seasons — after transferring to Gaither from Wesley Chapel High School following his freshman year.

McGough went on enjoy a record-setting campaign at Florida International University, where he amassed over 9,000 passing yards and 81 total touchdowns.

Dade City sets workshop on medical marijuana dispensaries

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The Dade City City Commission again will consider whether or not to allow medical marijuana treatment centers within city limits.

This city’s six-month moratorium, or temporary ban, on such dispensaries expires Sept. 21.

Commissioners will have a workshop on the matter Sept. 24 at 4 p.m., at City Hall, 38020 Meridian Ave., in Dade City.

In March, city leaders voted to extend its moratorium relating to the operation of cannabis dispensing organizations and the issuance of business tax licenses for such facilities.

It marked the fourth time commissioners passed a six-month extension of the moratorium. The original moratorium was enacted in 2016, to continue to study the potential impacts of such facilities on the municipality.

According to Florida Statutes, medical marijuana dispensaries and treatment centers are permitted in zoning districts where pharmacies are also allowed.

City leaders previously have expressed an interest to allow dispensaries, so long as they’re limited to commercial highways or the outskirts of town.

The commission earlier in the year directed city staff to draft an ordinance that would have allowed for medical marijuana in all zoning districts where the city allows pharmacies, except in the CRA downtown corridor and within 500 feet from any school.

However, the city’s planning board recommended denial of the drafted ordinance, with concerns about language ultimately limiting pharmacies or drugstores in the downtown area, in making them legal nonconforming use. The planning board then recommended the commission to extend the moratorium, with a time frame to be determined by the commission.

Dade City Mayor Camille Hernandez emphasized the city needs to find a long-term solution to the matter, one way or another. “We can’t drag feet; we’ve got to do something,” she said.

Regarding medical marijuana facilities, City attorney Thomas Thanas said other Florida municipalities “are trying to get out in front of this with an ordinance one way or the other.”

“Quite a few communities have passed ordinances that ban dispensaries and quite a few have done just the opposite where they’ve allowed them,” he said.

Published September 18, 2019

Dade City approves budget, with some qualms

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Dade City Commissioners adopted the city’s tentative budget for next fiscal year, but not without some disagreement.

A first reading ordinance of the $19,296,935 budget passed by a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Nicole Deese Newlon casting the lone dissenting vote during a Sept. 10 meeting.

The 2019-2020 budget is based on an approved 7.14 millage rate.

Newlon took umbrage with multiple funding issues, including the city using $150,000 in reserves to float its operating budget.

The Dade City Commission approved a first reading of its tentative budget for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. The $19,296,935 budget is based on a 7.14 millage rate. (Kevin Weiss)

“Effectively, to me, it’s like taking money out of my savings account to float my monthly expenses at my house,” she said, “so that to me means we are overextended.”

Newlon added it’s even more concerning with the city having “very large expenses” upcoming through its five-year Capital Improvements Program plan and proposed projects like a downtown splash park/bike hub, Morningside Drive extension and so on.

“We’re spending too much. That’s my opinion,” she said.

Newlon also took issue with certain aspects of funding for the city’s community and economic development department.

She disagreed with a $106,000 total salary benefits package for an economic development/CRA (Community Redevelopment Agency) director position and creating a second city planner position.

Newlon argued the economic development/CRA director position “is effectively $7,000 to $9,000 more than the last person that was doing that job was making.”

Dade City Senior Planner Melanie Romagnoli is expected to take over the expanded CRA role, which has been vacant since Mike Sherman left the city in July. Romagnoli previously spent nearly a decade as a program administrator for the Pasco County Office of Economic Growth.

Said Newlon: “I don’t think that person should make more for doing what I think is less work because they now have another person working under them, and the other position that was under them is being transitioned into a much bigger position.”

Newlon also questioned $60,000 for advertising, special projects promotional activities, and $75,000 to rehabilitate the old police department building on Pasco Avenue.

Other commissioners, however, stressed the need for boosting the city’s economic development efforts for next fiscal year by any necessary means — and capitalizing on surrounding residential and commercial growth.

Commissioner Scott Black put it like this: “The economy as it is now, while it is booming, we need to have our staff in place so that we can allow some development to happen. If they’re being hamstrung because there’s not enough hours in the day and not enough hands available, then we’re not going to be well served.”

Black also said of the budget: “It’s not an enviable position to be in, but we have to be positioning ourselves to do these things.”

Commissioner Jim Shive agreed: “In order to move this city forward, we’ve got to grow and get some things on the table.”

Mayor Camille Hernandez added she’s “expecting big things” from an enlarged economic development/CRA team.

Said Hernandez: “We see the houses starting to build, we see businesses start to come and we’re not going to be able to continue that unless we have the expertise and the knowledge of that kind of input into our city.”

One reason for the city’s tight budget constraints this year: commissioners in July voted to set the tentative millage rate at 7.14 rather than a rolled rollback rate of 7.3297 recommended by city staffers.

Commissioners opted not to go with the higher property tax rate, asserting residents have already seen increases in water and sewer rates, and a stormwater fee assessment.

At 7.14 mills, ad valorem tax revenues in the city’s general fund decrease by $40,850 for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, according to Dade City Manager Leslie Porter. The rollback rate would have resulted in a $50,000 swing and thus increased ad valorem revenues in the general fund by about $10,000.

The mayor noted it’s been one of the more challenging budget years she can remember.

“It has been extremely tough,” Hernandez said. “I think in all the years I’ve been here this is probably one of the hardest that I have ever seen and trying to respect our community and keep the millage the same.”

Published September 18, 2019

Volleyball team seeks to avenge state title defeat

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The Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School Hurricanes volleyball team lost just one game last season — but, that loss came in the FHSAA Class 3A state championship.

The Hurricanes had won 30 consecutive games through the regular and postseason before losing to Doral’s Divine Savior Academy Sharks, in three straight-sets at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in Fort Myers.

The Bishop McLaughlin Hurricanes volleyball team’s only loss last season came in the Class 3A state championship. They believe they’re up to the task to win the whole thing in 2019. (Courtesy of Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School Athletics)

The scores were 25-16, 25-16 and 25-22.

Much of the damage was done by Sharks then-junior Fabiana Castro, a Bryant University commit, who led all players with 24 kills.

If the Hurricanes had won, it would’ve marked the school athletic program’s first-ever team state crown.

“You know, everybody has their excuses about what happened, but what actually happened was they were better than we are. That was the bottom line,” longtime Hurricanes volleyball head coach Doug Chinchar said.

“They had one kid we could not stop and that was it,” he said.

As devastating as the Nov. 17 loss was , the coach has used the experience as a learning tool for this season.

He has challenged his team to become tougher mentally and physically, particularly when it comes to facing top-level teams in raucous environments — like the state title game.

“The other team threw the first punch and we didn’t punch back. That was the heartbreaker. I want to punch back,” said Chinchar, now in his 11th year at the school.

“If there’s one thing I worry about is how tough we are. How tough are we going to be when we go into some team’s gym and they’re all over all us,” he said.

To attack that concern, Chinchar has pursued the most challenging regular season slate possible, to gear up his team for another deep postseason run.

That includes road matches this season against Alachua Santa Fe, Clearwater Central Catholic, Carrollwood Day, Sarasota Riverview high schools and others.

Bishop McLaughlin Hurricanes volleyball coaches Doug and Sara Chinchar lead the team through an early-season practice. Last season the Hurricanes went 30-1 and finished Class 3A state runner-up. (Kevin Weiss)

“We’re trying to schedule 25 losses. We want to play the best of the best,” the coach said.  Veteran players believe the team has grown from last season’s defeat and is on a restored track this year. The Hurricanes presently sit at 9-1, as of Sept. 16.

The team entered the new season more motivated and “wanting to work harder,” senior middle hitter Sarah Perciavalle said.

“I think we have more heart from last season, and more energy during our practices and games,” Perciavalle, of Lutz, said, “so I think we’re better in that sense.”

Last season’s end was “really upsetting,” she said.

“We were expected to win, going in undefeated, so it was definitely a hard loss,” she said.

Junior outside hitter Audrey Koenig said the team has gained more confidence and has learned “definitely to not underestimate a team and not to let big crowds affect you.”

The 6-foot-3 FSU commit and Wesley Chapel resident recalled it took her “at least a week” to get over that last year’s title game defeat.

She recalls being very sad about the loss, noting “everybody was expecting us to win, so like all the hype and momentum built up to it and then it just kind of fell.”

So it may seem like a tall task to top a nearly unblemished 30-1 campaign, but the Hurricanes insist they are even deeper this year.

Nearly all of the players are returning from last year, including four seniors.

They’ve also added a handful of talented freshman — paced by 6-foot-3 Maddie Snider and 6-foot-1 Ali Waldon, the daughter of former University of South Florida men’s basketball standout B.B. Waldon.

Height and offensive firepower figure to be an advantage again this season, as the group boasts three 6-footers and four other players 5-foot-9 or taller.

“We definitely have the intimidation factors,” said Koenig, who leads the team with 95 kills and 20 aces.

Added Perciavalle: “I think we’re definitely more powerful at the net. All of our hitters have definitely gotten stronger, so I think we’re definitely better.”

The team is also out for revenge this time around, in their quest for that elusive state crown.

“It’s kind of like redemption,’ Perciavalle said. “Like, we were so close last year that now we’ve got to finish it up.”

The Hurricanes coach imagines it can done, based on what he’s seen thus far.

“It should be a fun little run here,” Chinchar said. “We have a chance to go the whole way, that’s the most exciting part. Everybody wants to beat us, and we want to beat them.”

“We want the whole thing,” he said.

2019 Bishop McLaughlin Hurricanes volleyball roster
Head coach: Doug Chinchar

  • Adrianna Lopez, junior
  • Alexandra Postlethwaite, junior
  • Ali Waldon, freshman
  • Audrey Koenig, junior
  • Autumn Martinez-Robinson, freshman
  • Cahley Woods, freshman
  • Ezzie Thompson, freshman
  • Gabriella Koenig, senior
  • Kayla David, senior
  • Maddie Snider, freshman
  • Sarah Perciavalle, senior
  • Terah Nejman, senior
  • Zina Grechniw, junior

Published September 18, 2019

Local commitment

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Cypress Creek Middle-High Coyotes junior pitcher/outfielder Peyton Petry has verbally committed to play collegiate baseball at NCAA Division II Saint Leo University.

Petry went 4-1 on the mound last season, registering a 1.35 ERA and 34 strikeouts in 36.1 innings pitched. He also posted a .333 batting average and 7 RBIs in 39 at-bats in 19 games at the plate.

Petry was named first team All-Sunshine Athletic Conference in the spring.

His younger brother, sophomore third baseman/pitcher Ethan Petry, last month verbally committed to play baseball at Division I University of South Florida.

Player of the week

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(Courtesy of Pasco-Hernando State College)

Pasco-Hernando State College (PHSC) Bobcats volleyball freshman Brooke Sereda recently earned NJCAA Region 8/FCSAA Division II Player of the Week honors. The 5-foot-9 opposite hitter from Weeki Wachee averaged 2.2 kills and 2.5 digs over six matches for the week ending Sept. 3. The Bobcats earned a split of those six matches.