The Santa Fe (Alachua) volleyball team is on a mission, to win another state championship.
Tuesday’s spirited 3-1 win (25-15, 25-20, 23-25, 25-19) at previously unbeaten The Rock showcased that potential.
“When we played them in preseason to now is night and day because they’re still the great team that we played in preseason, we’ve just improved a ton,” said Santa Fe coach Eric Marshall, who led the Raiders to back-to-back state titles in 2021 and 2022. “We completely changed our rotation which has helped us out a lot. When they swept us in preseason they embarrassed us this one game, so for us, we went back to work. There was no pouting, there was no, ‘oh my gosh, we can’t win,’ we’ve got to go back to work so that’s what we did.”
The momentum from playing well at last week’s Nike Tournament of Champions carried over as the Raiders attacked early and built a 19-10 lead in the opening set.
“Tonight, these girls knew what was coming, so we knew how good The Rock was,” Marshall said. “There was no surprise in that.”
Junior Brooke Findley got Santa Fe (7-3) going early with most of her 12 kills in the first two sets as Santa Fe won by scores of 25-15 and 25-20.
“Honestly, we just never quite caught our groove,” said The Rock coach Ruben Perez. “My girls seemed to be playing like not to lose, if that makes sense, and I think if they had played to win, if they had played to just having fun and quit ignoring the noise, I think they would have been fine, but I think they played not to lose and that’s never a good way to play a game.”
The Rock had five service errors in the second set.
“I’m sure when I look at the tale of the tape, we had a lot more errors for their favor,” Perez said.
An ace by junior Morgan Lawson (17 assists) helped the Raiders build a double-digit lead, 23-13, in the first set.
Junior Alexis Rhoden added nine kills, including back-to-back kills to end the second set. She also had an ace which ended the first set.
“So, here’s what we’re not doing that if we do this at some point, we’re going to be really hard to beat, Alexis almost hit .600,” Marshall said. “We just can’t get her the ball enough. If we can get Alexis the ball and she can swing the ball where she’s supposed to, she’s almost unstoppable because she snaps her wrist so fast, and they’re worried about Gia, so it opens that hole up. But we’re not passing well enough to set her enough balls, but when we can set her, she’s almost lights out every time.”
Findley had an all-around performance and finished with 11 service points, five aces, 21 digs and 12 kills.
“She’s the only six-rotation player we have, so she has to work extremely hard back row and then go up there and we set her a whole bunch,” Marshall said. “Her improvement from when we started to now is unbelievable. He (Coach Perez) targeted her in preseason. She has worked so hard on that skill, I think she might have only got aced twice tonight, so for her getting targeted so much, it was a huge improvement. She’s one of our key players.”
The third set was a game of runs.
A 6-0 run by The Rock gave the host team a 14-10 lead following a kill by senior Natasha Kidd. However, Santa Fe answered with a 7-0 run, including a pair of aces by Findley, and took a 17-14 lead on a kill by junior Delaney Wingenbach.
But that’s when Kidd got hot for The Rock.
She had consecutive kills as the Lions (3-1) turned a 21-20 deficit into a 22-21 lead and she added another kill for a 23-22 lead en route to a 25-23 win.
Iowa commit Gia McGrew had 20 kills for Santa Fe, including three in a row after The Rock scored the first three points of the fourth set on a kill and consecutive aces by Kidd.
“Anybody we play is going to think we’re going to set her (McGrew) every ball because of her heavy arm,” Marshall said. “She hits a ball that’s really hard to dig because of the pace that she hits it, but the block is there, so she’s having to always fight a double block. We even played a team this weekend that triple-blocked her from the outside which is crazy. Gia is a huge key, but she draws so much attention.”
Later in the fourth set, a “stuff/block” by Wingenbach gave Santa Fe a 17-16 lead and a kill a few plays later gave the Raiders a 21-17 advantage.
“The whole place erupted,” Marshall said of her lead-changing play. “And then she got another one.”
McGrew had the decisive kill in the 25-19 win in game four.
Sophomore Karlee Noah had 15 digs and West Florida commit Gracyn Marshall had a team-leading 25 assists for Santa Fe, which will travel to P.K. Yonge on Thursday, while The Rock will host GHS.
The first serve for both matches is at 7 p.m.
