Gulliver, Pine Crest set to clash in volleyball final
Exactly a week ago, the Fort Lauderdale Cardinal Gibbons and Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest girls’ volleyball teams met for a district title.
Much more was at stake Thursday at Pine Crest School with the opportunity to advance past the Class 4A regional semifinals.
Pine Crest dominated the game at the net to earn a 25-17, 25-14, 27-29,
25-17 victory and move on to a regional final on Tuesday against Miami Gulliver Prep, which defeated Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian in a regional semifinal on Friday afternoon.
Pine Crest split the two regular season meetings with Gulliver Prep.
With the combination of sophomores Mia Gold and Isabella Sangha, the Panthers (19-9) repeatedly pounded the Chiefs (22-8) with powerful spikes that kept their opponent on the defensive.
Gold and Sangha each had double-digit kills that were key to Pine Crest dominating the first two sets. The Panthers trailed only briefly in the second set at 3-1.
In the deciding set and leading 15-13, Gold and Sangha combined for five kills while outscoring Gibbons 10-4.
“This far into the season myself and Isabella work well together not only for blocking but hitting,” Gold said. “It’s been a team effort and that’s been good. That helped us plenty in the first two sets.”
“Our mindset was to serve hard and be mindful at the net,” Pine Crest coach Eric Rivera said. “We did a really good job and were able to shut down Gibbons’ middle. I’m super proud of these girls.”
Dating back to 2007, this was the 23rd meeting between the two schools. Since then the Chiefs led the series 11-3 in matches played in October.
Down 2-0, Gibbons found some resolve to battle through a tight, back-and-forth third set.
The Panthers seemed on the verge of sweeping the match when they went up 23-20, but Gibbons rallied to tie the score with three straight points.
Tied at 27, the Chiefs managed the final two points to get back into the match at 29-27.
“We didn’t have a great starter,” Cardinal Gibbons coach Kathryn Reeber said. “We couldn’t find the rhythm that we had a couple of weeks ago. We were hoping for one of those days where we would come out strong, but it didn’t happen.”
Senior Fabiana Capone led the Chiefs with 15 kills, while senior Teyhlor Thomas had 11 kills. Sophomore Ava Flores had 15 digs.
The Chiefs were seeking their first state title since capturing the Class 4A championship in 2015.
Last time Pine Crest advanced to a state final was 2007, losing to Lake Highland Prep (3A). The Panthers last state title came in 2003, which was the third of three straight state championships.
Region 4-4A semifinal — Miami Gulliver Prep d. Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian 25-15, 25-16, 25-12: The Raiders are trying not to leave anything to chance this time.
A year after seeing a promising season fall one game short of what would have been their first trip to the state final four, Gulliver is barely allowing opponents to even counterattack on the court.
The Raiders’ serving has become their biggest weapon and on Friday afternoon they used that to their advantage again during a dominant victory at their home gym.
Gulliver (26-3), which entered the postseason ranked sixth overall in the state, earned a chance at redemption with another trip to the regional final where it will host Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest (19-9) on Tuesday night.
It’s only the third time Gulliver has advanced to the regional finals and second in a row.
“We want to win the last game of the season and our message has been the same no matter who the opponent is,” Gulliver coach Emilio Rodriguez said.
Gulliver’s serving helped it break open each of the first two sets after Calvary Christian dueled the Raiders for the first few points.
Sophia Wong led that effort with six aces while Hailey Brenner had two aces and five kills.
The pinpoint serving threw the Eagles’ counterattack off balance and helped Gulliver pounce for numerous key points up front.
Senior Jackie Taylor, a North Carolina commit, led the Raiders with 18 kills and had two blocks.
Julia Rose Rivera totaled eight kills and Kate Welty had six kills. Maya Pace also had two aces and totaled 30 assists.
AMORE SCORES
Miami Westminster Christian d. Doral Divine Savior 25-11, 25-10, 25-23; Miami Ransom Everglades d. Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy 25-23, 25-11, 13-25, 25-21.
Jupiter Christian d. Weston Sagemont 25-16, 25-18, 25-21; Boca Raton Christian d. Miami Archbishop Carroll 25-10, 25-22, 27-25.