Gibbons, Boca Raton advance

MIAMI — Cardinal Gibbons’ perfect season and national ranking have come from executing in all phases of the game. On Friday, in a FHSAA state quarterfinal game against Miami Killian, that precision was on display as the Chiefs recorded a 25-21, 25-19, 25-23 win at Ransom Everglades that finds them just two wins away from a state title.

Having to survive a bit of a stumble at the start, the Chiefs (27-0) went on an 11-4 run to close out the first game and never looked back. The Cougars (24-4) put up a bit of a battle in the final set, but Reece Kramer closed the match out with one of his 13 team-high kills.

“I think we were really balanced with a lot of things that we did,” Chiefs coach Mike Zarate said after the game. “Our passing was pretty good and our setting was maybe even better which means our attack was really good too.”

Michael Valenzi added 10 kills and Ethan Shinn had 29 assists for Cardinal Gibbons. The win advanced the Chiefs, ranked ninth in the nation by MaxPreps, to Saturday’s state semifinals against Boca Raton.

In the first game of the day, the Bobcats (22-3) rallied from two sets down to defeat Lake Mary 20-25, 23-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-7. Ben Woody led Boca with 27 kills while Matthew Savoca and Dan Leathers each added 10 kills. Savoca had 42 assists as well.

The Cardinal Gibbons/ Boca Raton matchup is the first of two state semifinals scheduled for Ransom Everglades and will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday. The second semifinal matchup is scheduled for noon with the state championship game at 6 p.m.

The other two state quarterfinals pitted Palm Beach Central against Celebration with Friday’s nightcap featuring South Broward taking on Southwest. Neither match was complete at press time.