When Buchholz hosted Santa Fe back on Aug. 26, it was just the second match of the season for the Raiders and third for the Bobcats.
That night, Santa Fe rallied after dropping the opening set, beating Buchholz in four sets for its 11th straight win in the series.
In the rematch on Thursday night in Alachua, the visiting Bobcats made sure they were far enough ahead to end that streak.
Buchholz took the first two sets and beat Santa Fe in four sets by 25-16, 25-19, 21-25, 25-23.
Buchholz improves to 9-4 with their sixth win in their last seven matches.
“We’ve seen a lot of growth as a team since that first match against Santa Fe,” Buchholz coach Andre Medina said. “We are a very young team, but we seem to be finding our stride as the season goes on.”
Buchholz had lost back-to-back to Santa Fe and The Rock in that early-season stretch. They were led on Thursday by freshman outside hitter Taylor Sembower, sophomore middle blocker Aaliyah Ray, and another sophomore, outside hitter Aubrey Waters. Sembower dominated the match from the left side and Ray was dominant in the middle for the taller Buchholz team.
“This was just a great atmosphere for a high school volleyball match,” Medina said. “Our game plan was to dominate through our serving, and that worked for the most part.”
Three of Buchholz’s first four points came via ace, and the Bobcats scored the first four points of the opening set. The Bobcats’ lead eventually grew to as much as 10, and they never trailed in winning by nine.
“We couldn’t handle their serve, and that was a huge difference tonight,” Santa Fe coach Eric Marshall said. “I can probably count on my hand the number of times we played in system, while they were in system probably 80 percent of the time.”
The second set was much like the first, as Buchholz jumped out 6-1 and never looked back. The Bobcats led by as many as nine points and the closest Santa Fe could get was five points.
Santa Fe fought back in the third set, taking an early lead and breaking away from a 19-19 tie with five straight points to force a fourth set.
For a while, it looked like Santa Fe would force a fifth set as they once again battled back and forth with Buchholz. But down 15-13, the Bobcats went on a 7-1 run, and that was enough to hold on and take the match.
Santa Fe (14-8), who has lost three in a row and four of five, was led by junior Ella Schneider with 13 kills and senior Delaney Wingenbach with 12.
“We just played the No. 1 team in the state (Clearwater Calvary Christian) as tough as anyone and they laid an egg against The Rock and again tonight,” Marshall said. “I’m not giving up on this team, but we don’t have any heart right now.”
