The Santa Fe (Alachua) volleyball team faced its biggest road test of the season on Tuesday night.
Class 4A No. 2 Fleming Island (Orange Park), which is ranked 30th overall in Florida, took an early 1-0 lead at home.
However, the Class 3A No. 6 Raiders, who are ranked 18th overall, won the next three for a 20-25, 25-19, 25-20, 25-21 victory against the previously unbeaten Golden Eagles (6-1).
“I thought they punched us square in the face in set one,” said Santa Fe coach Eric Marshall. “I mean they got it to their outsides (senior Lauren Brosky & junior Lillie Eason), which are both incredible, and they were able to run any set they wanted because they also ran the middle a lot against us in set one, and we couldn’t stop her (senior Kaylee Clark).”
After Santa Fe had taken a 7-5 lead on an attack error in the first set, Eason, who was No. 3 in 4A with 100 kills, had a kill to bring the Fleming Island within one.
Brosky, a Florida International University commit, added a kill to tie it at 7-apiece.
Santa Fe took its last lead at 9-7 on a block by sophomore Taylor Sembower (14 kills, 9 digs, 19 assists). However, Brosky added a pair of kills and junior Addison Blom had an ace to spark a 5-0 run.
Brosky also had the decisive kill for a 25-20 win in the opening set.
Marshall challenged his team, and they responded.
The Raiders (7-1) used a 3-0 run by sophomore Taylor Sembower (14 kills, 9 digs, 19 assists) to turn a 10-9 deficit into a 12-10 lead in the second set.
“Taylor didn’t have a good first set,” Marshall said. “But, I mean, 2, 3, 4, she was incredible. They couldn’t stop her.”
Fleming Island reclaimed the lead, 13-12, on a kill by Clark, and Marshall received a yellow card for questioning a call. But that’s when the Raiders seized the momentum for good.
“Sometimes that’s not about me,” Marshall said. “I do that because sometimes they need to get fired up a little bit. My coaches need to get fired up a little bit. I thought it was not a good call…I have to protect my team. That’s my job. And sometimes I don’t look like a good guy for doing that, but that’s the coach’s job.”
Following an attack error by the Golden Eagles, senior libero Karlee Noah (31 digs, 7 assists) had an ace for a 14-13 advantage, and they never trailed again.
“We just decided we were going to serve tough,” Marshall said. “If we miss a few, we miss a few because we had to get them out of system because we couldn’t stop their outsides. So, we were able to get them out of system a little bit, which helped us because their outsides are really good. And then I just thought we showed some tenacity.”
Although Fleming Island tied it one final time, 14-14, consecutive kills by Sembower and a pair of kills by freshman Holdyn Moore (25 assists, 7 kills) gave the Raiders an 18-15 lead.
The Golden Eagles raced out to a 7-1 lead in the third set, but the Raiders took advantage of a few attack errors to tie it 8-8 on a 5-0 run.
A 4-0 run, which started with a kill by sophomore Ajha Graddy, grew the lead to 12-9, and later in the set Graddy matched the Raiders’ largest lead at 22-15 with another kill.
Graddy also had the decisive kill for a 25-20 win and a 2-1 lead.
“Last year this was her coming out party in this gym,” Marshall said. “She was unbelievable. She had like 22 kills, one error. She just likes this gym. She says she can see the floor really well in here. She likes the lights…the sky is the limit for that kid.”
In the fourth set, Noah had three quick service points for a 3-0 lead, and Fleming Island never got any closer than two points the rest of the way.
“I thought Karlee served the ball really well tonight,” Marshall said. “She has a really tough serve. It drops, really hard to pass, and I knew if we could just crack somebody serving wise, find a target, and we were able to find a target, which helped us…this team’s only lost two sets, and they just lost those two recently, so before that, they were undefeated set-wise too. We knew this was going to be a big win because we knew their outsides were incredible.”
Freshman Lalyn Sikes added 11 kills and 12 digs for Santa Fe, which just added 7A state runner-up Plant (Tampa) to its home schedule on Thursday, September 17.
Following a home game against Forest (Ocala) this Thursday, the Raiders will play in the prestigious Wawa River City Classic at JJVA on Friday and Saturday.
“I’ve never won that,” Marshall said. “Out of my eight years, we’ve been there at least five times, maybe six, and I’ve never won it…I went to state twice but didn’t win that tournament.”