Gulf Breeze too much for Arnold in 1-5A matchup

PANAMA CITY BEACH — Gulf Breeze continued to assert its volleyball dominance over Arnold and the rest of District 1-5A on Tuesday.

The Dolphins defeated the homestanding Marlins 25-12, 25-12, 25-14 in improving to 14-2, 6-0 to all but lock up the top seed in the district tournament. The young Marlins dipped to 9-6, 5-2 with their third loss to the Dolphins this season.

Early defensive mistakes and poor passing by Arnold helped the powerful Dolphins to fast starts in each of the first two sets. Gulf Breeze ran out to a 9-3 lead on the strength of Shannon Kehoe’s serving in the first set. It went up 10-4 in the second on the service of Caroline Ennis. The lead grew to insurmountable levels in each.

“We had a lot of serve-receive errors,” Arnold coach Karisa Wesley said. “The first game we passed poorly and we had some offensive mistakes that hurt us.”

Arnold staged mini-rallies in the first two sets when it finally settled down. It narrowed the gap to 21-10 on a JoJo Booker kill in the first set, but Caitlin Chapman, who had 13 kills, finished off the set six points later. Arnold moved from a 17-4 deficit to 19-9 on an Alex Dyer ace, one of three straight points, but Chapman and Alex Karcher on the service line ended any chance of a threat.

The Marlins started the third set with more intensity, seemingly getting over what Wesley called “tentative play.” A Madi Wichterman block gave Arnold a 2-1 lead, its first and only advantage in any set. Chapman’s spike attempt went wide and Arnold led 3-1.

The teams traded ties before an Ennis kill gave Gulf Breeze the lead back at 5-4. Ally Hurd and Chapman helped the Dolphins to a 16-8 lead on the service line and Arnold never pulled any closer.

Dyer paced Arnold with 11 assists, seven digs and five service points. Wichertman had five kills and two digs, Kailyn Helms nine digs, Sarah Robertson seven digs, one kill and one ace and Emma Moskowitz five kills and three digs for Arnold.

Wesley said Arnold can use the losses as a measuring stick. The Marlins also have dropped a match to Mosley, which is unbeaten in Bay County play. The important factor is standing in with teams such as Gulf Breeze, which can be intimidating with its veteran lineup.

“What we aren’t doing is staying consistent,” Wesley said. “And we’ve been timid at times and afraid to make mistakes instead of being aggressive.”

Arnold has a chance to regain momentum in the Tallahassee Chiles Tournament this weekend.