Lake Howell (Winter Park) 6’2 outside hitter Natasha Casey entered Wednesday night’s state playoff game at Buchholz leading the state of Florida in kills with 526, including 6.4 kills per set.
And although the University of Central Florida commit eclipsed that average in the opening set, the host Bobcats used a team effort to sweep the visiting Silver Hawks, 25-20, 25-13, 25-20 in an FHSAA Class 6A-Region 1 Quarterfinal at Bud Seymour Gymnasium.
“We knew that off the service line their lefty had a huge serve,” said Buchholz 2nd-year coach Andre Medina. “We had seen it before. The last two days I was standing on about a five foot box and just reaming balls at my kids and getting them prepared for it and they did an awesome job. Serve-receive has been a must for us all year long. We know that if we can compete in the serve-receive battle we’re a tough team to beat.”
Following a kill by Casey (game-high 16 kills) for a 3-2 lead in the opening set, Buchholz (20-5) answered with a 6-0 run.
Senior Addie Sixbey (4 kills) tied the match at 3-apiece with a kill and junior Sophia Lingis (21 assists, 12 service points) ended the Bobcats’ run with an ace for an 8-3 lead and Buchholz never trailed again to take a 1-0 lead.
Lake Howell got within three at 11-8 on another kill by Casey, but Buchholz sophomore Aaliyah Ray (6 kills, 2 digs, 1 ace, 5 service points) helped spark a 5-0 run with a kill and freshman Kiana Wilburn (3 aces, 4 digs) added four service points to help the ‘Cats take a 16-8 lead.
The second set was back-and-forth and tied for the seventh time at 8-all on a kill by freshman Taylor Sembower (11 kills, 17 digs, 12 service points).
She had her own personal 4-0 run, including a block, as Buchholz got four service points from Ray and a 12-9 lead. Once again, Buchholz never trailed again in the second set.
“We worked really hard for this,” Sembower said. “I’m really proud of everyone. For our serving, we worked on serving deep a lot in practice and I think that helped them to get out of system and it takes away the big swings for the other side, but when they were in system we were just playing really, really good defense and I think that helped us.”
In fact, the Bobcats closed out the set with a 10-0 run, which included a pair of kills by sophomore Demmi Strappy (8 kills) and sophomore Aubrey Waters (8 kills).
Sembower had nine service points during run for a 25-13 win and a 2-0 lead.
“She affects the game from all over the place, front row, back row, her digs, her offense, her defense,” Medina said. “In set one, that big lefty, I think she dug her about 10 or 15 times and being able to stop her I think was what really affected them and her not being able to score as easily as she thought she was going to be able to. Kudos to her (Sembower) for doing all her scoring, but her defense tonight too was absolutely killer.”
The momentum carried over into the third set as Buchholz raced out to a 6-0 lead in the third set.
Ray had a kill to begin the set and added a block, and Wilburn had six service points and an ace during the rally.
“I’m probably going to go back and look at that film because that was probably the most executed six points we’ve played all season long,” Medina said.
Sophomore Julia Almond added 21 assists for Buchholz, which will travel to No. 2 seed Oviedo (21-6) on Saturday. The Lions swept No. 7 Pace in the other regional quarterfinal.
GHS 3, Jensen Beach 0 – Gainesville High ensured there would be no upset this time.
After losing at home to South Fork as the No. 1 seed in the first round of last year’s Class 5A playoffs, the No. 2 seed Hurricanes swept No. 7 Jensen Beach 25-22, 25-14, 25-20 at The Purple Palace in a Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinal.
“We came in prepared,” said Gainesville coach Jerica Carter-Mitchell. “We played Jensen Beach at the Nike championship, so we knew what they had as far as their jump setter and a really good outside…we had a practice plan and we executed it very well tonight.”
Jacey Carter-Mitchell and Jorryn Dye led the ‘Canes with 11 kills apiece and the sophomores each added a block.
“We knew going in that Jensen Beach didn’t really have middles so we could run the middle all day and get a kill (from Jacey), so that was one of our strategies going into it,” Carter-Mitchell said. “And Jorryn, when she’s hot she’s hot. If we give her a good set, it’s really hard to defend so she had some good bangers tonight.”
University of West Florida commit Rowan Kage added 10 kills and a pair of aces and junior Jordyn Barnard added three kills and three aces for GHS (18-8), which will host No. 6 Gateway (Kissimmee) on Saturday.
The No. 6 seed Panthers upset No. 3 seed John Carroll Catholic, 3-1, in Fort Pierce in the other regional quarterfinal.
“Addy (Hauptman) is getting really close to 1,000 digs but we’ve got to keep winning for her to get that, not that it’s on her radar to get that but it’s on our radar as coaches to get that,” Carter-Mitchell said. “Those seniors (Hauptman and Kage) don’t want to lose. They don’t want to be done playing high school volleyball and they were really good leaders for us tonight.”
Santa Fe 3, Titusville 0 – It didn’t take long for No. 2 seed Santa Fe to advance to the next round of the Class 4A state playoffs.
Junior Karlee Noah had 20 digs, 12 service points, and five aces as the No. 2 seed Raiders cruised to a 25-10, 25-7, 25-7 sweep of No. 7 seed Titusville in a Class 4A-Region 2 Quarterfinal in Alachua.
“We played extremely well as a team, with very little errors,” said Santa Fe coach Eric Marshall. “We will have to continue that to win Saturday, as we will be playing an extremely tough team.”
University of West Florida commit Gracyn Marshall finished with 15 assists, 13 service points, and three aces, and sophomore Emarie Carlisle (1 block) added nine kills in just 17 attempts for the Raiders, who will host defending 4A state champion Bishop Moore (Orlando) on Saturday.
The No. 3 seed Hornets swept No. 6 seed Mount Dora in the other regional semifinal.
2025 FHSAA Volleyball Regional Tournaments
Area teams in bold
Wednesday, Oct. 22
Class 4A-Region 1 Quarterfinals
1 South Walton (Santa Rosa Beach) 3, 8 Suwannee (Live Oak) 0 – 25-11, 25-11, 25-5 (Bulldogs finish 10-18)
Class 4A-Region 2 Quarterfinals
2 Santa Fe (Alachua) 3, 7 Titusville 0 – 25-10, 25-7, 25-7
Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals
2 Gainesville 3, 7 Jensen Beach 0 – 25-22, 25-14, 25-20
Class 6A-Region 1 Quarterfinals
3 Buchholz 3, 6 Lake Howell (Winter Park) 0 – 25-20, 25-13, 25-20