Last Wednesday, P.K. Yonge hosted a media day for its volleyball teams, which is something it hasn’t done in the past.

“This is definitely something new for P.K. Yonge volleyball and we’re trying our best, coaches and administration alike, to really get P.K. Yonge athletics back on the map in Gainesville and North Florida so we’re really excited to be able to host a fun day for the girls, especially after getting a good five-set win (against Eastside on Sept. 10),” said P.K. Yonge head coach Chancie Vice, who led GHS to its first district title in 12 years last October.

It was just the second win of the season for the Lady Blue Wave (2-11), who have a very young team with only one senior and starts a seventh grader (Holdyn Moore).

“Ebbs and flows,” Vice said about the win against the Rams. “We had our starting middle (sophomore Jaylee Fugate) go down with a really bad injury in the fourth set and our team stepped up in that moment and learned how to support one another and fight for each other. It was definitely a really good win coming off of the losses at Oak Hall. We really needed it.”

On Saturday, Sept. 7, P.K. Yonge had 2-0 losses against host Oak Hall, Columbia (Lake City) and Buchholz in the Oak Hall tournament.

The good news is that Fugate’s injury was a high ankle sprain and was not broken, but she was expected to be in a boot for a couple of weeks.

P.K. Yonge, which was swept at Santa Fe (Alachua) this past Tuesday, returns home on Thursday for a big 2A-District 1 match against Oak Hall.

“Their record is so deceptive,” Oak Hall head coach Perry McDonald of the Blue Wave. “Those guys are playing probably one of the hardest schedules in the area and they are not a team to be taken lightly, especially when you have to go into the P.K Yonge gym.”

The Eagles (10-2), who were in the final four last year, had to cancel their game at Columbia (Lake City) on Tuesday because a majority of the team is sick.

“I’m hoping to get enough back today to play tomorrow,” McDonald said.

The Lady Blue Wave have a really tough schedule this year because, when Vice took over, they didn’t have that many games. That includes Trinity Catholic (Ocala) and a pair of games against Santa Fe and Buchholz, among others.

“The only people who wanted games were the really tough schools in our area and surrounding area, so I’m excited to see Oak Hall again,” she said. “It was a close game (25-23 and 25-16) and we were going through something as a program in that moment that caused chaos but now we’re back focused on the straight and narrow. I’m excited to see them again.”

That “chaos” was the firing of co-head coach Enrique Wiseman less than two weeks ago.

“P.K. Yonge had to let Enrique go due to unfortunate choices on his behalf, and we just had to choose to protect the reputation and our goals for what we want the program to be headed into,” Vice said.

Vice, who was hired as co-head coach prior to the start of the season, is certainly comfortable in her new role as the team’s only head coach.

“It’s nothing new,” she said. “I led GHS for four years and so far, I’ve really been carrying the role of responsibility of head coach since being here so it’s not much of a transition other than us losing an extra pair of hands at practice. My entire GHS staff, other than Deac (Story) is here at P.K. Yonge and loyalty is huge.”

Oak Hall, which won its first eight games of the season, lost a pair of games at their tournament to Columbia (2-1) and Buchholz (2-0). They’ve won two in a row, including a sweep of district rival St. Francis Catholic Academy last Tuesday.

“We are a work in progress,” McDonald said. “We have the hardest draw that we’ve had since I took over the position at Oak Hall five years ago and we have to improve dramatically. I think that there are things that we do very, very well, but we need to make sure we can handle taking a punch in the face and getting back up and dishing it back out.”

It’s just the second home game of the season for P.K. Yonge, which lost its home opener to Santa Fe two weeks ago.

The first serve on Thursday is set for 6 p.m.