The first time that Gainesville High School played The Rock School on Aug. 28, the Hurricanes swept the Lions at The Purple Palace.
On Tuesday night at The Rock School, the host Lions pulled away for a 25-14 win in the opening set. However, the Hurricanes rallied to take the next three in a 14-25, 25-11, 25-16, 25-23 win on the road to sweep the two-game season series.
“Well, the difference was we had an off week last week,” said GHS coach Jerica Carter-Mitchell. “We had that Nike tournament (tournament of champions) two weekends ago, and then we had nothing all last week, so it was more like a rest week. We just hadn’t played much volleyball. I would call it a rusty match, plus not being in our gym, and before the game, Rowan said, ‘this place has voodoo on you,’ and yeah, we definitely had that on the first set…we figured it out.”
The opening set was back-and-forth early, including six ties, but after The Rock (7-3) broke the tie at 7-6 on an attack error, they never trailed again.
Senior Alexis Rhoden, a transfer from Santa Fe (Alachua), had three consecutive aces to give the Lions a 14-9 lead, and following a GHS timeout, added one more to cap a 7-0 run.
She finished with a team-high 14 kills and five aces.
“Alexis was a heck of an addition to our program, like I could not have asked for a bigger blessing than her and her sister (Kylie),” said The Rock coach Ruben Perez. “Alexis brings a lot of energy. She brings power, not only as a server, but also as one of my pins, and it changed the game for her because she was used to playing middle and now going to a pin.”
The Hurricanes (7-4) pulled away early in the second set thanks to the Mitchell sisters, the daughters of Coach Carter-Mitchell.
Sophomore Jacey Carter-Mitchell (6 kills, 5 blocks, 3 aces) had a kill for a 9-4 lead, followed by junior Kenzie Carter-Mitchell (10 kills) for a 10-4 lead.
Kenzie added another kill in the back left corner for an 11-4 lead.
“Obviously, that’s really great for me as a mother and as a coach, having them play together,” Jerica Carter-Mitchell said. “That was something I’ve been looking forward to since Kenzie wasn’t able to play last year due to her injury. It’s just nice that she’s getting back into the swing of things. I’m really happy for her. She’s been working really hard.”
Senior Rowan Kage (14 kills, 5 blocks) added a pair of kills down the stretch and Kenzie Carter-Mitchell had the decisive kill in a 25-11 win to even the match at 1-apiece.
After The Rock closed within one, 10-9, in the third set, sophomore Jorryn Dye (13 kills, 5 blocks) helped the ‘Canes go on a 4-0 run with a kill and a pair of blocks.
“She definitely dominated,” Jerica Carter-Mitchell said. “You can tell when she’s on, and then it’s like just keep giving her the ball…in that first set she was a bit in her head and we told her about herself that she was in her head and she said, ‘nope, not anymore, not me,’ and I was like ‘that’s what I want to hear’ and she rose to the occasion and she was a weapon for us.”
GHS had a slim 7-6 lead in the fourth set, but a kill by junior Callie Kieszeck tied it, and junior Ari Howard (8 kills) added a pair of aces and five service points for a 12-7 lead.
“I said, ‘hey, let’s be aggressive. Let’s go after the middle and let’s try to make them miss,” Perez said. “Watching how they were setting up their serve receive, I tried to exploit that, and she did pretty good with that. So yeah, for sure on her serving she came through. She’s definitely a huge offensive weapon for us.”
After the Hurricanes tied it at 14-all on a kill by Kage, a service error gave the Lions a 15-14 lead. Then 8th-grader Holdyn Moore (10 kills) gave The Rock a 16-14 advantage by hitting it horizontally along the net from the left side.
“She is incredible,” Perez said. “Watching her play, watching her jump, she definitely comes through with just energy. That’s one athlete that I don’t think I have to worry about…I’m excited. Her explosiveness and her power is, for an eighth grader, oh my gosh, and the way she explodes. Oh, it’s phenomenal.”
The Rock extended it to a 19-16 lead, but GHS seized the momentum thanks to back-to-back aces by Jacey Carter-Mitchell (6 kills, 3 aces), who tied it at 19-19.
“She struggled serving earlier throughout the match,” Jerica Carter-Mitchell said. “It was actually kind of nerve-racking getting her back there because of her accuracy tonight, but she was able to take care of that and get three aces for us and help us secure the win. That was when we needed her and she figured it out.”
The Rock will travel to Academy of Central Florida National (Kissimmee) at 6 p.m. on Thursday, while GHS will play at rival Buchholz at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
“It will be similar, probably to tonight, in that we’re just going to have adversity playing in somebody else’s gym,” Jerica Carter-Mitchell said. “We know their girls are talented. They’re young, so we are obviously worried about the future when they get bigger, taller, and stronger, but we know what they can do. We’ve just got to handle business behind the service line, number one, and just keep them on their toes as much as we can.”
