Top seed GHS upset, season ends at home

Gainesville's Nicole Ellis (15) and Jorryn Dye (8) go for a block against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Gainesville's Nicole Ellis (15) and Jorryn Dye (8) go for a block against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Photo by C.J. Gish

With a four-game winning streak and a district title on its side, the Gainesville volleyball team had momentum and a favorable path heading into the state playoffs.

As the No. 1 seed, GHS could have been at home throughout the regional playoffs with a legitimate shot at making this year’s final four in Winter Haven.

But on Wednesday night at The Purple Palace in an FHSAA Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinal, No. 8 seed South Fork (Stuart) upset the top seed Hurricanes 25-20, 27-25, 25-21, ending the GHS season at 15-9.

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Gainesville's Jordyn Barnard (7) with a hit against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Photo by C.J. Gish Gainesville’s Jordyn Barnard (7) with a hit against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.

“It definitely didn’t go the way any of us thought it was going to go, especially not in three,” said Gainesville first-year coach Jerica Carter-Mitchell. “I think overall some of the girls underestimated their team based on ranking, based on video footage, so I feel like they were hungry. They’re not going to travel three and a half hours and not put it all on the court. They didn’t come here to lose.”

Gainesville took a 9-8 lead in the opening set on a kill by 5’9 junior Rowan Kage, who had six of her team-high 11 kills in the first set.

However, South Fork middle hitter Ryan Connelly, who entered with 191 kills, took over.

The 6’3 junior had a block and three kills as part of a 5-0 run to give the Bulldogs a 13-9 lead. She finished with six kills, two aces, and one block in the first set.

“She actually surprised us,” Carter-Mitchell said. “She’s a lot better in person, a lot taller in person. We prepared for her, but she was a lot better when we saw her out on the court than what the footage even gave justice to. She was even strong behind the service line, and all of them were. They barely missed. They came with a drive to kick our butts.”

GHS freshman Jorryn Dye (7 kills) answered with a kill, and then the Hurricanes finished off a 4-0 run with another kill by Kage to tie it at 13-13.

Gainesville's Nicole Ellis (15) with a hit against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Photo by C.J. Gish Gainesville’s Nicole Ellis (15) with a hit against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.

“I feel like out of all the girls it probably hurt her (Kage) the most that we didn’t move on,” Carter-Mitchell said. “But we can always depend on her to find the spots and stuff we don’t think she can do she does it. She finds a spot to get the kill. Sometimes it’s real pretty, it’s really hard, and other times it’s just a nice, sweet spot that she places the ball.”

The No. 8 seed Bulldogs (13-12) seized control midway through the first set with their own 4-0 run for a 17-13 lead before Carter-Mitchell called timeout.

“It was just back and forth,” she said. “When we got a lead, I was like OK, this is us, this is our night, we’re going to get in flow and then they’d get a serve and run points and that’s what it was it was just back and forth. The whole time I’m thinking this is our chance, we got it, and then we missed a serve, or we didn’t hit it hard enough. It was just kind of the story of the night.”

Following a block by North Carolina A&T commit Nicole Ellis got the ‘Canes within two at 22-20, Connelly had a pair of kills, followed by a GHS attack error, to give South Fork a 1-0 lead.

Down 11-9 in the second set, the Bulldogs went on a 7-0 run following a block by Connelly for a 16-11 lead.

GHS freshman Jacey Carter-Mitchell (7 kills) had a kill and an ace to bring the Hurricanes within two.

She added a block late to give her team a 24-23 lead, but her service error, followed by Sienna Mureddu’s block, gave the Bulldogs the final two points in a 27-25 win in set two and the ‘Dogs rode the momentum to a 25-21 win in set three.

“South Fork had momentum, they had the energy, and they were going after balls we thought were kills,” Jerica Carter-Mitchell said. “We’ve played against teams that do that, so it’s not like we should be surprised, but they had all that drive and energy on their side, and we didn’t. We had it but not at their level.”

Gainesville's Rowan Kage (4) with a hit against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Photo by C.J. Gish Gainesville’s Rowan Kage (4) with a hit against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.

Although the season ended on a sour note, there were plenty of positives to take away including a district championship, the program’s second straight, and a No. 1 seed in their region.

“I really went into this season with no expectations, just knowing that they lost three D-I players last year [Brooklyn Tealer, Meme Davis, Charlotte Gravlee], and then Chloe [Petrick] going down this summer with her knee injury, so just knowing that we had to find a setter, we had to fill the outside hitter roles, one of the middle roles, we had a lot of shoes to fill,” Jerica Carter-Mitchell said. “I went in thinking it was a rebuilding year and it happened that it really wasn’t. We had the pieces that we didn’t have to really rebuild so for us as coaches that was really nice.”

Wednesday scores

Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinal
8 South Fork (Stuart) d. 1 Gainesville 25-20, 27-25, 25-21

Class 4A Region 2 Quarterfinals
3 Santa Fe (Alachua) d. 6 Satellite 17-25, 25-11, 25-15, 25-14

Class 4A-Region 1 Quarterfinal
2 Bishop Kenny (Jacksonville) d. 7 Suwannee (Live Oak) 25-10, 25-7, 25-13

Gainesville's Jorryn Dye (8) with a hit against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Photo by C.J. Gish Gainesville’s Jorryn Dye (8) with a hit against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Gainesville's Jacey Carter-Mitchell (1) with a hit against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Photo by C.J. Gish Gainesville’s Jacey Carter-Mitchell (1) with a hit against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Gainesville's Charlotte Judge (10) with a set against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.
Photo by C.J. Gish Gainesville’s Charlotte Judge (10) with a set against South Fork (Stuart) in the Class 5A-Region 2 Quarterfinals.

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