Douglas gets past South Plant in 9A

PARKLAND — Tatiana Kittendorph had an inyour-face moment — literally — when it came down to crunch time in the Douglas girls volleyball team’s Region 3-9A quarterfinal.

Kittendorph, the Eagles’ junior middle blocker, went up and spiked the ball directly into the face of a Paladins player late in the fourth set that sent her teammates and the home crowd into a frenzy.

It was one of 11 kills for her as she also had nine blocks, and along with junior outside hitter Jessica Lopresti’s 21 kills, Douglas got past South Plant 25-15, 23-25, 25-21, 25-23 on Wednesday night.

“I think I brought up the team by doing that,” said Kittendorph,. “I saw a blocker and then I just hit inbounds. Then I just saw my coach flying.”

Douglas coach Dave Palm ran a lap around the Eagles’ bench in excitement.

“I feel a little bit guilty,” Palm said. “She crushed the girl in the forehead, and I felt a little bit bad and a little unprofessional, but that just goes to show you how much I care about my girls and how excited I am when they play great volleyball.”

The Eagles (13-4) advance to regional semifinals for the first time since 2013. They will host Cypress Bay on Nov. 1.

“It felt amazing because we’ve come so far,” said Lopresti, who, transitioning to outside hitter from middle blocker this season, added four digs, six service points and three aces to her 21 kills. “I have no words. I’m just amazed.”

Junior Julie Piedra had 16 digs, five aces and five service points.

Douglas went on an 8-1 run late in the third set that keyed the Eagles’ rebound effort after dropping the second, a back-and-forth tilt that went the Paladins’ way after seven lead changes.

The Eagles won the first set by finishing on a 12-3 run.

PALM BEACH GARDENS 25-24-25-25, PARK VISTA 23-26-22-15:

Senior middle blocker Maddie Anderson stepped up in a pivotal third set to help lead the host Gators past Park Vista in a Class 9A regional quarterfinal.

Palm Beach Gardens (23-1) advanced to the semifinals and will play Jupiter or Spanish River on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m.

“Park Vista gave us everything they had,” Gators coach Joy VanDyke said. “The way we closed out the third set was huge for us. We did not let up.”

Anderson, a Florida State University beach volleyball commit, finished with 13 kills, 13 service points, six digs, four aces, and four blocks.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 25-25-25, DWYER 15-7-4:

Threetime defending state champion St. Thomas Aquinas overcame a slow start to sweep Dwyer in the Class 8A volleyball regional quarterfinals.

St. Thomas Aquinas (19-5), whose last loss was at a national tournament in Phoenix on Sept. 30, will take on the winner of Wednesday’s Fort Lauderdale-West Boca match on Nov. 1 in the regional semis.

“I don’t know that we’ve peaked yet, which is good,” said Lisa Zielinski, who has led St. Thomas to five state championships in her 30 seasons as head coach. “I think we’re really close. We have been interchanging some players, some lineups. I’m really happy with how we ended up finishing today. I think we had kind of a rough start. I don’t know how focused we were at the beginning.”

The young Dwyer squad has just two seniors on the team. But the Panthers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in Game 1 and were still in it at 9-9.

However, St. Thomas Aquinas took a 13-9 lead with four consecutive service points from Boston College commit Derry Costigan and never trailed in the opener again. Amanda Silvestri put the finishing touches on the 25-15 win.

Games 2 and 3 were not close. St. Thomas Aquinas jumped out to a 9-2 lead in Game 2, led 13-3 and took a commanding 20-6 advantage.

In the final game, Amelia McCrory had 14 consecutive service points to put STA up 14-0 and University of Florida commit Paula Cerame continued the offensive assault en route to a 25-4 blowout.

PINE CREST 25-25-25, MONSIGNOR PACE 9-8-4:

Maddie Fowler had 10 kills and Shari Stenglein added 24 assists with four service points to lead the host Panthers to a 3-0 win a Class 5A Regional Quarterfinal in Fort Lauderdale.

The win advances the Panthers, ranked fifth in the state by MaxPreps, to the regional semifinals where they will host ChaminadeMadonna, Nov. 1.

Serving proved to be the key to the win for Pine Crest (16-1). In the opening game, the Panthers went on a 10-0 run served by Ilana Shapiro en route to a 25-9 win. Shapiro had five aces during the run and seven in the game.

In the second game, it was Arielle Ghiloni with the hot hand as she tallied 12 service points with six aces as Pine Crest would post a 25-8 win. The Panthers then closed out the match with a 25-4 win in which Cassidy Robertson and Salome Slatkoff combined for 11 aces.