Matanzas volleyball player Keri Petro hopes to have another killer year

The sophomore led the Pirates in kills last year, but her favorite part of the game is defense.

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Matanzas volleyball player Keri Petro is only a sophomore, but she will be instrumental to the Pirates’ success this season, coach Dawn Moses said.

As a freshman, the outside hitter, led Matanzas with 265 kills. Petro’s kill percentage of 37.3 was second on the team.

She also led the Pirates in serve receiving with 356 receptions and was third in digs with 214. Her versatility is not surprising. Petro has been playing club volleyball for DME Academy for seven years and has played every position on the court.

“She’s just a good athlete,” Moses said.

Petro said her favorite part of the game is defense. She plays an important role on the front row, but she’s just as valuable on the back row.

“You put her and Rylan (Miller) back there, and the two of them are going to pass balls, and that's what we expect out of them,” Moses said.

The Pirates had their winningest season in school history last year with a 21-6 record. They headed into their season opener against Spruce Creek at home in a 7 p.m. match Tuesday, Aug. 20, trying to find consistency at the setter position. Freshman Analise Smith and senior Abby Eskelsen will be sharing the role. Eskelsen is playing setter for the first time.

“We have Abby setting in addition to Analise, because it's going to be critical to be able to give us some conversation to the freshman at different times,” Moses said. “And so that's not really Abby's position. But she did a nice job for us (in the preseason classic), and that's all we can ask of these kids.”

Matanzas hosted St. Joseph, St. Augustine and DME Academy in the preseason matches on Aug. 15. The Pirates swept St. Joseph in two sets and came within one point of doing the same to DME, but the visitors rallied from 10 points down to win in extra points, 28-26, and then won the third set 15-12 to win the match.

“I subbed when we were up by 10 points. I probably shouldn’t have, but this is preseason,” Moses said. “The game doesn’t count. It’s not going against our record. This is about getting every kid in, giving them the opportunity to play and seeing how they handle different things.”

They talked in the locker room after the match about learning from adversity and recognizing their mistakes, Moses said.

“I think we just let up,” said Petro. “We thought we had it and obviously we didn't and we let them go on a run, but I think we competed well in the first match and then the first set of the second match and then we just let up. We can’t let up on a 10-point lead.”

Moses said the Pirates will rely on leadership from seniors Eskelsen and Paige Duckworth and from Miller, their junior libero who has already committed to the University of Georgia.

“Rylan Miller is going to lead this team by example as well as knowledge and high IQ on the court,” Moses said.

Petro said everybody is stepping up with the goal of matching or surpassing last year’s record. 

“Last year we made school history, so I hope we can do the same this year,” she said.

 

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