Dunnellon was the 3-1 winner over Central when they last played one another back in September of 2023, but their luck changed this time around. The Dunnellon Tigers fell just short of the Central Bears by a score of 3-2 on Thursday.
Dunnellon took Central into a fifth set but they suffered a heartbreaking three-point loss. Once all was said and done, the final score wound up at 25-22, 27-29, 22-25, 25-17, 15-12.
Several Tigers players turned in solid performances despite ultimately coming up short. Perhaps the best among those players was Samantha Bernstein, who had 30 digs. Bernstein is on a roll when it comes to digs, as she's now had four or more in the last 24 games she's played dating back to last season. The team also got some help courtesy of Taytym Simonsen, who had 13 aces.
Simonsen wasn't the only one working in the aces department: Dunnellon was lethal from the service line and finished the game with 21 aces. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now served at least five aces in seven consecutive games dating back to last season.
Jaylene Sanchez was nothing short of spectacular for Central: she had 59 digs and three aces. That's the most aces Sanchez has posted since back in September of 2023.
Dunnellon's loss was their sixth straight on the road dating back to last season, which dropped their record down to 1-5. As for Central, their victory ended a nine-game drought at home dating back to last season and bumped them up to 1-9.
Dunnellon will face off against West Port at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. As for Central, they didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next contest, a 3-0 defeat vs. Nature Coast Tech on the 10th.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
