Gainesville head volleyball coach Chancie Vice has said her Hurricanes team needed to protect their home court this season.

Her players have definitely taken that to heart, winning 19 straight matches at home.

Gainesville trounced Navarre from the get-go, beating the Raiders in straight sets 25-15, 25-5, 25-15 in a Region 1-6A quarterfinal match at the Purple Palace on Wednesday.

The third-seeded Hurricanes (20-7) will travel to second-seeded Chiles (Tallahassee) on Saturday in the region semifinal round. Chiles eliminated Fletcher (Neptune Beach) in straight sets on Wednesday.

Against Navarre, Gainesville pulled away from a 7-7 tie in the opening set with a 12-2 run and never looked back the rest of the match. Gainesville coach Chancie Vice says her team played their best against Navarre and against New Smyrna Beach in the district final last week.

“Over the season I have a goal of us getting better every game,” Vice said. “But in the last two games we have just been at an elite level. We have played with a sense of urgency and fight and fight together and that’s something we haven’t done all year long.”

And Vice admits her and her players have talked at length about protecting the home court.

“We came up with the analogy of do you let someone come into your house and disrespect you?” Vice said. “They said no and I told them we don’t let anyone come into our house and disrespect us. There’s a sense of pride that we haven’t really had in the culture here at GHS for a long time.”

After rolling through the first set, the second set was even easier for the Hurricanes. Senior Brooklyn Tealer, a USC commit, rolled off 10 straight service points, including three aces. Senior Charlotte Gravlee then finished off the set with 10 straight points on serve with five aces.

The third set was more of the same. The Hurricanes pulled out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back, leading by as many as 12 points.

Tealer led a balanced effort with nine kills, senior and Mercer commit Meme Davis added eight kills and Gravlee led Gainesville with seven service aces and a .636 hitting percentage.

Gainesville and Chiles have met once this season, with the Hurricanes winning in two sets at a tournament in Venice on Oct. 6.

2023 FHSAA Volleyball state playoffs
Wednesday, Oct. 25

Class 5A-7A Regional Quarterfinals

Class 5A-Region 1No. 2 Ridgeview (Orange Park) d. No. 7 Columbia (Lake City) 25-10, 25-8, 25-10

Class 6A-Region 1
No. 3 Gainesville d. No. 6 Navarre 25-15, 25-5, 25-15