Last year, the Oak Hall School volleyball team won its fourth straight district title under head coach Perry McDonald.
However, McDonald announced his retirement at the end of the season and a new coach took over the reins for the 2025 season. Following a 4-10 start, McDonald returned, and Oak Hall volleyball was relevant again.
The Eagles (14-11) won eight of their last nine regular-season games and climbed from near the bottom of the 2A-District 1 standings to earn the No. 2 seed, which allowed them to host the district semifinals.
“He was kind of like our safety coach,” said OHS junior Kendylle Bishop. “He just came in, and everything just turned around. Our team was a whole new team. I can’t really describe it.”
The Saint Francis Catholic Academy (11-6) team, which was on “The Prep Zone” sports show on Sept. 10, won its first five games under first-year head coach Breona Fung.
They took 3A-District 5 champion Newberry to five sets before losing their first game of the season, and they also snapped a 13-game losing streak to rival Oak Hall on Sept. 2.
The Wolves also doubled the number of wins they had last year, from five to 11.
“There’s always been talent at this school; they just needed some positivity,” said Fung. “But it’s huge, and hopefully this is a stepping stone to more things coming ahead in the future.”
Saint Francis Catholic also defeated Rural-District 7 champion Willison on the road on Oct. 2.
But on Oct. 9, the Eagles got revenge against the Wolves with a 3-0 win at home.
“It was very good knowing that at the beginning of the season, we lost to them in five sets,” said Bishop, who had a game-high 24 kills on Thursday night. “I think ever since that, my team, including me, we just had a fire to beat them.”
That win, coupled with the way they finished, helped Oak Hall move ahead of Destin in the district standings. As the No. 2 seed, the Eagles defeated No. 3 seed Destin in Tuesday’s district semifinals.
“We definitely did not think we would be here at the beginning season,” said senior Haley Janes, who has been a part of the last four district titles. “So, it’s definitely insane to know that we’re here now.”
On Thursday night in the 2A-District 1 title game, the host Eagles won the rubber match with a 3-1 win against the Wolves.
“It’s fun when you not only win a district championship, but when it happens to be your rival, it’s even sweeter, for sure,” said assistant coach Gianna Hooper, who filled in for McDonald, who was out of state on Thursday night but will return to practice on Monday.
The victory against the Wolves was the fourth straight win for the Eagles and their 10th in the last 11 games.
“I think that these girls have found their inner voice, their inner happiness playing volleyball again, and I think that our goal was to have fun,” Hooper said. “Our goal was to have fun and I think these girls realize that they are very talented, but unless they’re having fun, they’re not as successful, and I think that they have found that inner love and that inner happiness playing volleyball again, and I think it speaks volumes for what the tail end of our season has looked like.”
As the No. 4 seed, Saint Francis Catholic Academy traveled to Maclay (Tallahassee) and swept No. 5 seed Rocky Bayou Christian (Niceville) on Monday in the district quarterfinals.
They had to return to Tallahassee on Tuesday, and they upset No. 1 seed Maclay in the district semifinals, which allowed Oak Hall to host Thursday’s championship game as the higher seed.
“That was rough, but fun,” Fung said. “We didn’t have that many away games, and buses are a bonding experience. We had a pre-ritual where we would stop at Starbucks before, so we did team Starbucks (before the game) and team Chick-fil-A after, and I think during those times, that just really brought us closer together than we were. But they worked really hard.”
Both wins against each other during the regular season were big, but the Eagles’ victory on Thursday night was the biggest.
It helped Oak Hall win its fifth straight district title and earn an automatic bid to the FHSAA regional quarterfinals on Tuesday, Oct. 21, while Saint Francis Catholic Academy will watch the FHSAA’s bracket release show (Saturday, Oct. 18, at noon) with hopes of getting an at-large bid.
Editor’s note: Oak Hall clinched a playoff spot but not a home game.