Tuesday night’s high school volleyball match at The Purple Palace between host Gainesville High and visiting Santa Fe (Alachua) had the intensity of a playoff match.
And it took a fifth set, as the Hurricanes rallied from a 2-1 deficit to defeat the visiting Raiders 17-25, 25-21, 23-25, 25-18, 15-11.
The win avenged a 3-0 loss in Alachua on Sept. 18 against Santa Fe, which had won seven of the previous eight meetings.
“I’m really proud of our girls for really buying in and believing that they could win because it’s hard playing somebody who already beat us at Santa Fe and there’s some stars on that team that our girls are kind of, not scared of but a little intimidated by…” said first-year GHS coach Jerica Carter-Mitchell. “We adjusted our lineup for this game in particular and the girls bought in, and they did awesome.”
University of Iowa commit Gia McGrew set the tone early with nine of her game-high 23 kills in the opening set for Santa Fe.
“We can’t depend on her that much,” said Santa Fe coach Eric Marshall. “We weren’t passing the ball well enough to move the ball around. We’ve got to be able to move the ball around. They have a gigantic block (North Carolina A&T commit Nicole Ellis). If you can’t move the ball around and they’re pinned on you, I mean Gia was having to hit it inside the 10-foot line to score.”
The Raiders (17-5) trailed 2-0 but McGrew had a pair of kills to help spark a 5-0 run and they didn’t trail again in the opening set. McGrew added two more kills as part of a 6-0 run and a 20-11 advantage.
But in the second set, serving swayed the momentum in Gainesville’s favor.
Following a kill by freshman Jorryn Dye (11 kills) for a quick 1-0 lead, sophomore Charlotte Judge (6 aces, 23 assists) had four straight aces, and following a Santa Fe attack error, added a fifth for a 7-0 lead.
“They were huge,” Carter-Mitchell said. “Charlotte, I give her the zone and she’s pretty much close to 90% what zone I tell her to serve she’s serving it and she’s actually serving it in tricky spots so it’s not just in zone five she’s doing deep corner, near the line to make it really challenging for the passer.”
Sophomore Jordan Barnard’s ace gave GHS a commanding 15-5 lead, although Santa Fe did get within three late at 24-21 on a kill by junior Brooke Findley (13 kills, 13 digs).
“I thought their serve receive was twice as good as ours and their block was twice as good as ours,” Marshall said.
In the third set, a kill by Ellis (11 kills, 5 blocks) and a pair of aces by her cousin, senior Taylor Ellis, fueled a 6-0 run as GHS overcame an early 4-1 deficit and built a 15-10 lead.
“We moved her (Nicole Ellis) to be in the front row and that way she’s up there with Gia (McGrew) because the first set we didn’t have her starting in the front row, we had Jacey (Carter-Mitchell), which is our normal lineup, but we wanted a better matchup and she did amazing in that role,” Carter-Mitchell said.
However, Santa Fe answered late with a 6-0 run of its own to take a 20-18 lead on a kill by junior Delaney Wingenbach (9 kills). Clinging to a 1-point lead at 24-23, McGrew’s kill gave Santa Fe a 25-23 win and a 2-1 advantage.
Santa Fe, which is ranked No. 2 by MaxPreps in Class 4A, took a 4-3 lead in the fourth set on a block by Findley. However, GHS moved ahead 5-4 on an ace by junior libero Addyson Hauptman (3 aces, 14 digs)
“Their libero (Hauptman), that kid played incredible,” Marshall said. “She deserves game ball tonight because we couldn’t serve near her. She was passing every ball, we couldn’t hit near her, she was digging every ball. To me if you look at a player on their team tonight, that’s the impressive kid.”
Junior Rowan Kage (team-high 15 kills), who had six kills in the opening set, broke a 16-16 tie with a kill, while freshman Jacey Carter-Mitchell (7 kills, 7 blocks) had three kills late to help the ‘Canes (12-8) pull away for a 25-18 win to even the match at 2-2.
In the decisive fifth set, Barnard (6 kills) tied the game at 7-apiece with a kill and added four service points as GHS began to pull away and led 12-8.
“The rotation she ran tonight is completely different than she’s played against anybody, and it worked,” Marshall said. “It was really good rotation. They were dangerous everywhere.”
Sophomore Karlee Noah had 27 digs, junior Gracyn Marshall had 20 digs and 33 assists, and junior Morgan Lawson finished with 13 assists for Santa Fe, which will host Class 1A No. 3 St. John Lutheran (Ocala) at 7 p.m. on Thursday in a rematch of the Saints’ 3-0 win on Aug. 27.
“They kicked our tail, they embarrassed us, and it’s our Senior Night,” Marshall said. “It will be quite interesting to see if we’re hungry.”
GHS, which is ranked at No. 8 in Class 5A, will travel to Buchholz on Thursday at 7 p.m. seeking its ninth straight win in the series following a sweep of the Bobcats on Sept. 16.
