Braden River claims district crown

BRADEN RIVER — The Braden River High School volleyball team has become accustomed to making school history.

Last season, the Lady Pirates captured the program’s first district title and advanced to the regional finals.
And on Oct. 28, Braden River continued its record-setting ways, capturing its second district title with a 3-0 victory over Palmetto in the Class 4A-District 10 Championship. Braden River (24-3) defeated the Lady Tigers 25-23, 25-15 and 25-11.

The Lady Pirates also set another program record with their 24th victory of the season — besting last year’s mark of 23 wins.

“I feel so much closer to the team this year,” senior floor captain Kaleigh Jaco said. “I’m so happy right now.
“It’s an honor to me honestly because that’s such a big role and this is such an emotional sport,” she said of being named the emotional leader of the team. “Everyone gets me so happy, and we all get hyped up together. It’s so awesome.”

With the win, the Lady Pirates played host to District 9 runner-up Strawberry Crest Nov. 2 in the Class 4A-Region 5 quarterfinals. Results from Tuesday night’s match were unavailable as of press time Tuesday. Be sure to check YourObserver.com to see how the Lady Pirates fared.

The winner of Tuesday night’s match will play the winner of the other regional quarterfinal match between District 9 champion George Steinbrenner and Palmetto in a regional semifinal match Nov. 9.

Braden River got off to slow start in Game 1 of the district finals. After taking a 13-5 lead, Palmetto tallied five straight points and eventually pulled within a point before Braden River finally closed out the game.
“I think it was because there was so much pressure on us,” Jaco said of Braden River’s slow start. “If we won we beat our record of most wins and then winning districts for the second time in a row — but we all got it together. My sister, Brittany, played great tonight, and our defense was awesome.”

In the final two games, the Lady Pirates showed why they finished the regular district season undefeated. In the second game, Braden River broke a 4-4 tie and went on to control the remainder of the game. And in the final game the Lady Pirates led 9-6 before tallying 13 points to Palmetto’s two to clinch another district title.

“At the beginning of the season, I sat the girls down and told them, ‘Palmetto is the team to beat this year,’” coach Steven Haugh said. “They’re good and they played us very tough the first game for sure. Palmetto’s got a (big) future. They’re going to be good next year.”

Brittany Jaco once again led the way for Braden River, finishing with 24 digs, 11 kills and five aces. Lindsay Blake recorded 13 digs and Kelley Shiels had 10 digs.

Kaleigh Jaco finished with six kills and two digs while Courtney McDevitt and Natalie Aluise finished with 15 and 14 assists, respectively.

But there was one member of the Lady Pirates squad who made a name for herself not because of her individual stats but because of her ability to ignite the team when it needed it the most.

“Ashleigh Martin … She’s like our little sparkplug,” Haugh said. “Every time she went in the game, we had a run. And Ashleigh’s been like that all year long. … She hasn’t gotten a lot of praise, but she deserves it. She did a great job tonight.”

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].