Pensacola beats GC, wraps up conference title

October 17, 2012  21:59 PM

News Herald Staff

PANAMA CITY — There would be no comeback. Not Wednesday night, not this season.

Pensacola overwhelmed Gulf Coast in a women’s volleyball match and secured the Panhandle Conference title with a 25-13, 25-20, 25-18 victory at the Billy Harrison Field House.

GC, which had been hoping to knot the best-of-five season series at 2-2, instead fell to 1-3 in the conference and 23-12 overall. Pensacola, the 19th-ranked team in the nation, improved to 20-5 and 3-1. The Lady Pirates also sealed their berth in the postseason state tournament with the victory.

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GC seeks to even series with Pensacola

October 16, 2012  17:07 PM

News Herald Staff

PANAMA CITY — For the past couple weeks, the Gulf Coast women’s volleyball team has outworked and outhustled nearly all of its opponents.

The Lady Commodores will have to do so again Wednesday. GC hosts Pensacola in a do-or-die Panhandle Conference volleyball match at 6 p.m. at the Billy Harrison Field House. The Lady Commodores’ pursuit of a state tournament berth will remain alive with a victory, but a loss would end that aspiration.

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Gulf Coast rally stuns No. 19 Pensacola

October 10, 2012  20:18 PM

News Herald Staff

PENSACOLA — Kyle Peck’s volleyball program at Gulf Coast took a monumental leap forward Tuesday night.

GC setter Cassandra Ducote divvied out 34 assists, and the Lady Commodores rallied from two games down to beat No. 19 Pensacola 20-25, 14-25, 25-23, 25-17, 15-9 at the Lou Ross Center.

Kelsey Hedman added 15 kills, six blocks and six digs for GC, which beat the Lady Pirates for the first time in Peck’s three-year tenure.

“This is a win I have personally been striving for each of the last three seasons,” Peck said. “We have been getting better every day, every month, every year since 2010, and this victory kind of snuck up on us. After losing the first two sets tonight, I figured we were just going to replay that record.

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GC tough in defeat against Pensacola

September 26, 2012 22:17PM

News Herald Staff

PANAMA CITY — Two volleyball teams walked off the court with something they needed Wednesday night.

Pensacola had to hold off a resilient Gulf Coast club to pick up a 25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 25-21 victory in a Panhandle Conference match at the Billy Harrison Field House.

Ranked 19th nationally, the Pirates improved to 13-1 overall and 2-0 in the Panhandle. GC fell to 13-8 and 0-2. Pensacola needs to win just one of the next three scheduled matches against the Lady Commodores to clinch the conference title.

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Gulf Coast falls in five sets

September 20, 2012  9:47:00 PM

News Herald Staff

BAY MINETTE, Ala. — Gulf Coast won the first two sets and was just a few points shy of collecting a victory before Faulkner State staged a rally to win 20-25, 17-25, 25-23, 25-13, 15-12 in a women’s college volleyball match.

GC slipped to 12-6 overall.

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Pensacola sweeps Gulf Coast in volleyball opener

September 12, 2012 09:49:00PM

News Herald Staff

PENSACOLA — Gulf Coast didn’t have any points to give away on the volleyball court Wednesday night.

Falling behind early in each of three games, the Lady Commodores were swept 25-18, 25-17, 25-21 against Pensacola at the Lou Ross Center in a Panhandle Conference volleyball match.

Gulf Coast salvages lone win

September 02, 2012 12:00:00AM

News Herald Staff

LEESBURG — The Gulf Coast women’s volleyball team rebounded from an opening loss to salvage a victory on Saturday in a tri-match hosted by Lake Sumter.

The Lady Commodores began with weekend with a 25-19, 25-21, 26-24 loss to St. Johns River in Palatka on Friday, then lost earlier Saturday, 25-19, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20 to Lake Sumter. The lone victory was 25-22, 25-16, 25-27, 30-28 against Indian River.

Cassandra Ducote had 102 assists, five aces and 25 digs in tournament play. Christina Berry topped the squad with 45 kills in addition to 65 digs and four aces. Nicole Holton had 38 kills, 50 digs and three aces.

GC opens season winning 3 of 4

August 27, 2012 5:34:12PM

News Herald Staff

HANCEVILLE, Ala. — The Gulf Coast women’s volleyball team opened its fall campaign winning three of its four matches at the Wallace State Hanceville Tournament.

The Lady Commodores got out to a slow start last Friday when they fell to host Wallace-Hanceville in three sets. They rebounded later in the day taking three of four sets against Gadsden State. GC returned to the court for two matches Saturday and posted convincing sweeps against Snead State and Andrew College.

Former GC standout graduates with honors from East Carolina University

12.13.11

Jackie Varnum, a former Gulf Coast State College standout is preparing for graduation at East Carolina University.  Jackie participated in volleyball at Gulf Coast from 2008-2010.  In 2010 she was selected as the “Outstanding Student Athlete of the Year” at Gulf Coast and the Florida Community College Activities Association “Roberta"stokes Scholar Athlete of the Year”. Jackie demonstrated her commitment to excellence on both the court and in the classroom while attending Gulf Coast. 

In her first year at ECU, she was selected to the All-Tournament team four times in pre-season. Jackie was also selected as All-Conference twice in 2011.  Throughout her two year stint she accumulated 291 kills and 131 blocks.  She was one of the only ECU Pirate’s to play in every match and set.  She led the team in hitting percentage (.175), solo blocks (10) and points (377) while ranking second in total blocks (84) and blocks per set (0.77).  Despite a foot injury in 2011 that kept her out for over half the season, Varnum has picked up 44 blocks in as many sets played.  Earlier in 2011, she compiled the top single-game block total with nine against the No. 1 team in the nation, California. 

Jackie faired just as well in the classroom at ECU.  She graduated with a GPA of 3.93.  She also graduated with honors distinction of magna cum lade with a degree in Exercise Physiology.  Jackie says, “Balancing volleyball and a tough academic load has taught me the most valuable life lesson of time management.”  She is hoping to attend graduate school for Physical Therapy and get her certification in Strength and Conditioning. 

Jackie is a Bay County resident and graduated from Bay High School in 2008.  Gulf Coast was very fortunate to have someone of Jackie’s caliber participate in the athletic program.