Volleyball preview: No. 8 St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg

At a glance

Coach: Joe Abad

Class: 5A, District 10

Last season: 16-4, lost in state semifinals

Key players: OH Jordan Bunce, Jr., MB Jenna Davis, Sr., L Livvi Harting, Sr.

Schedule

Tues. at Tarpon Springs, 7:30

Thurs. at Northeast, 7:45

Sept. 1 vs. Hollins, 7:45

Sept. 2 at Countryside, 7

Sept. 7 vs. East Lake, 7:45

Sept. 14 vs. Lakewood, 6:30

Sept. 14 vs. Gibbs, 7

Sept. 16 vs. Osceola, 7:45

Sept. 21 vs. Keswick Christian, 6:15

Sept. 23 at East Lake, 7:45

Sept. 24 vs. Calvary Christian (tournament), 3

Sept. 24 vs. East Lake (tournament), 5

Sept. 25 vs. Berkeley Prep (tournament), 9 a.m.

Sept. 25 vs. Brooks DeBartolo (tournament), 10 a.m.

Sept. 26 vs. Osceola (tournament), noon

Sept. 29 at Robinson, 7

Sept. 30 at Pinellas Park, 7

Oct. 1 vs. Indian Rocks Christian, 4

Oct. 1 vs. Canterbury, 5

Oct. 1 vs. Pinellas Park, 7:30

Oct. 2 vs. Clearwater, 3

Oct. 5 vs. Boca Ciega, 5

Oct. 14 at tournament, 7

Outlook

The Green Devils have a lot of optimism, especially after reaching the state semifinals for the first time in school history last season. There is some retooling that needs to be done after losing three key seniors — Madelyn Davis, Nicole Robison and Kate Youmans — who had been on varsity since they were freshmen. Fortunately, St. Petersburg has a quality junior varsity program who help fill the spots left by those who graduated. During tryouts, the Green Devils got an added bonus with the addition of Nydia Kushta, a transfer from Countryside who can take over at setter. She will team with Jordan Bunce on the outside, Jenna Davis (a University of Tampa commit) in the middle and Livvi Harting (a Virginia Commonwealth commit) as a libero.