Riverview volleyball takes district tournament crown

The reaction from the Riverview High volleyball team upon winning its district tournament for the second year in a row was subdued. 

In fact, the Rams showed more emotion winning certain points during the match than they did when they won the whole thing.

After Riverview dispatched Newsome High in straight sets (25-16, 25-19, 25-19) Wednesday night, they shook the hands of Newsome players and casually made their way to the sideline to collect their trophy. The Rams were happy to win, but reaching this point in the postseason is no longer a surprise. It's almost the expectation, even under first-year head coach Nickie Halbert.

"We had a list of all the things we wanted to do (this year)," Rams senior Kayla Walker said. "District champions was absolutely No. 1. There's only five teams in our district, including ourselves. It's important that we're better than them."

Riverview took commanding leads in each set, only to see the Wolves claw their way back into all three. Walker said the team "coasted" at times while playing with a lead, a problem she and the team know needs to be addressed if the team wants to make a deep postseason run. Still, Walker was proud of her team for starting strong and recovering from their lapses in focus to get the straight-set win, she said.

Halbert herself wasn't taking any part of the night for granted. 

"I don't think you can ever expect anything in sports, especially being a first-year coach," she said. "I hoped for it (a district title) and we worked for it, but it wasn't something I thought was going to happen easily.

"It's hard to stop teams when they go on runs. We have got to work a little bit harder at that at practice, but if you can build that lead in the beginning, you have more room for error toward the end of the game."

The early-lead strategy turned out OK for Riverview. Walker had 30 assists in the win, and her MaxPreps All-American sister, sophomore Riah Walker, landed 13 kills and four aces. 

The Rams head into regional play Wednesday night when they host Freedom High (Orlando).