By Eugenio Torrens
Three short years ago, Bishop McLaughlin’s volleyball team was the bottom dweller. The Hurricanes scraped by and won two matches in 2008.
Bishop McLaughlin stepped out of its own beleaguered shadow and into the volleyball spotlight with a monumental comeback win from two sets down against Carrollwood Day 16-25, 21-25, 25-18, 25-14, 15-13 on Oct. 25. The victory advanced the Hurricanes to the Class 3A-District 8 finals and clinched their trip to regionals.
But the victory was short lived after a straight-sets loss to Tampa Prep 25-10, 25-21, 25-4, on Oct. 27 for district crown.
“We were done after we beat Carrollwood,” said Bishop McLaughlin coach Douglas Chincha. “That was our championship game. … That was our game. If the season could have ended right there, it would have been perfect.”
Chinchar said he noticed his team was a bit off in warm-ups, which led to the lax play in the first set, when the Terrapins shot out to a 24-6 lead before the Hurricanes slimmed the margin of defeat.
“They were better than we were, that’s what went wrong,” said Chinchar about the No. 1 seed Tampa Prep, which reached the 2A final four last season.
Hurricane senior outside hitter Jess Johnson echoed her coach’s sentiments that her team played knowing there was no dire consequence with the loss.
Losing against Tampa Prep means Bishop McLaughlin will have to travel in the first round of regionals, but it’s a playoff appearance nonetheless.
“We kind of didn’t come out our hardest, I guess,” Johnson said. “It was really difficult going through that, to see everyone kind of give up.”
The Hurricanes put on a much closer showing in the second set and took their first lead of the match early, 2-1. The two squads traded points, and twice Bishop McLaughlin led by three points. But the Terrapins found their footing and rallied from 15-12 in the second set, to tie it up at 15 before taking the lead for good.
“I wish it was different standards to see maybe if we would have played a lot better,” Johnson said. “It was really frustrating, because I wanted to beat them so bad.”
Chinchar, who said he was able to turn his team’s volleyball tradition around after experiencing it in college and with the “best people in the country, in the world,” has laid the foundation for an up-and-coming powerhouse.
“We were probably the third-worst team in the country,” Chinchar said. “Now we can play volleyball with anybody.”
Bishop McLaughlin travels to play Lakeland McKeel Academy on Tuesday, Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.
