- Santa Fe volleyball team won the Crafty Gemini Preseason Showdown, defeating Buchholz 25-17, 25-21 for the upper division championship on Thursday night.
- Branford swept Aucilla Christian 25-21, 25-17 to win the lower division championship as defending FHSAA Rural state champion.
- Santa Fe faces a tough schedule opening with games against Calvary Christian, Middleburg, and defending 5A champion Chiles in their first week.
On Thursday night in Alachua, the Santa Fe volleyball team showed that not only are they a threat to win Class 3A-District 4, but a state title is also certainly attainable.
The Raiders cruised past Class 3A-District 4 foe Newberry, 25-9 and 25-8, in the opening round of the Crafty Gemini Preseason Showdown at the Legacy Park Multipurpose Center.
That set up an upper division championship game against Buchholz High School, which swept 6A-District 3 opponent Forest (Ocala), 25-21, 25-17, in their Best-of-3 opener.
First-year head coach Amanda Falck of Buchholz played for Santa Fe coach Eric Marshall, adding to the many storylines in the game.
Santa Fe, which finished 20-10 last season and advanced to the Class 4A-Region 2 Final, took a quick 4-0 lead before University of Georgia commit Aaliyah Ray’s kill put the Bobcats on the board.
“She’s a monster,” Falck said of the 6’1 Ray. “I mean, the way she moves on the court is great. So, it’s great to have her.”
The Raiders maintained the lead and won the first set, 25-17, against the Bobcats, who lost outside hitter Taylor Sembower to Santa Fe, and whose head coach, Andre Medina, stepped down this past spring.
The ‘Cats kept it close in the second set but came up short, 25-21, to give the Raiders the trophy.
“First match (against Newberry) really loose,” Marshall said about how his team played. “Probably had five hitting errors total. That’s an indication of, not necessarily the setting as much as it was we were loose. The ball was going where it was supposed to go. It got really tight in the match against Buchholz, and we had 11 hitting errors.”
Santa Fe has a brutal schedule to open the season with home games on Monday against defending 3A champion Calvary Christian (Clearwater) (31-1) and 5A regional semifinalist Middleburg on Tuesday. They also host defending 5A state champion Chiles (Tallahassee) (31-1) on Saturday after traveling to The Villages on Friday afternoon.
“We will get destroyed Monday if we have 11 hitting errors,” Marshall said. “So, we have to put the ball in play. Like if it’s not there, the ball has to go in play. For the most part, a lot of errors, and we don’t have a lot of time to fix that before Monday. We have a really tough week. It’s the toughest first week I’ve ever had.”
Buchholz, which will travel to Bradford (Starke) on Monday to open the season, will host Forest at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
“Both teams were really good, and I saw a lot of things that we need to work on,” Falck said. “I don’t think we had our best day, but for sure, I think we have a lot of things to work on.”
Newberry was swept by Forest, 25-15, 25-7, in the consolation game.
“They’re both really great teams, but overall, I’m really proud of how our team fought through adversity,” said first-year Newberry coach Miranda Bass. “Even though we didn’t come out on top, we do have a core group of returnees, with some younger kids in the mix, and still just kind of finding what works best for us. But overall, I’m super proud of them, and really just grateful for this opportunity to play high-level competition.”
The Panthers will host Bell at 6:30 p.m. on Monday.
Eight local teams participated in Thursday’s tournament, including four in the lower division.
Defending FHSAA Rural state champion Branford swept Aucilla Christian (Monticello), 25-21, 25-17, in a rematch of last year’s regional semifinal.
Lafayette (Mayo) advanced with a narrow 25-20, 25-23 win against Union County (Lake Butler) in the first game.
The Bucs (24-4) defeated Rural regional semifinalist Lafayette by identical 25-18 scores in the championship game.
“I think these are some of the top teams in our Rural division, especially in our area down here, so everybody got a preview to see, and everything was pretty competitive,” said former Newberry coach Hank Rone, who enters his first season with the Bucs. “I don’t think anybody blew anybody out, so probably good film for all of us to watch, but what a great venue to come in here in Alachua and I’m glad they host. Coach Brandon does a great job putting it on.”
Branford, which will open the season at 7 p.m. on Monday at Class 3A Keystone Heights, is a young team with only four seniors.
“I only have two that actually played last year, so we lost that whole group last year,” Rone said. “But (junior outside hitter) Paisley Knight just shined tonight. She got her confidence in her swing. We’re trying to tweak her swing a little bit, and I just told her you’ve just got to let it loose and just swing, and tonight she did. She had a great game.”
Union County bounced back to win the consolation game, 25-11, 25-22, against Aucilla Christian.
The Tigers will host Lafayette on Tuesday, followed by a home game against Suwannee (Live Oak) on Thursday.
