St. Andrews’ Glass fired up for playoffs
BOCA RATON — The stands said it best at St. Andrew's on Tuesday night.
Almost certainly a grandparent for a volleyball player, a fan let out a big sigh after Jupiter forced a fifth set against the Scots: “This one's no good for your ticker.”
The last game of the regular season didn't quite go as St. Andrew's hoped, falling to the No. 19-ranked Warriors (20-25, 25-23, 25-21, 27-29, 10-15). By the numbers, it may look easy to say that things went better than expected for the Scots, ranked 80th in Florida as of Oct. 3, but Jupiter snapped an eight-game win streak for St. Andrew's.
Star lefty setter for the Scots Charlotte Glass, a 6foot-1 junior, knew it would be anyone's game, at least if it were up to her.
Highlighted by last Thursday's three-set comeback (21-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-18, 15-12) at No. 33 overall King's Academy (14-9), St. Andrew's has been battle-tested by a loaded schedule, rated 16.72 to Jupiter's 13.74.
“We went to a tournament early this season and we just didn't play well throughout the whole thing, so besides that, this is the third regular-season game we've lost,” Glass said of St. Andrew's 10-9 record.
“I'm a very big competitor, so I just want to do everything in my power to win and I want to see my teammates succeed and obviously, they want to see me succeed so that fuels me every game,” Glass said. Set to set, the Duke volleyball commit was a force who saw Jupiter in rare form.
Warriors outside hitter Ava Webster, a fellow Class of 2025 recruit, said Jupiter had to play its “best volleyball” yet this season to head back north with the win. Webster split 15 kills with senior Sophia Rodriguez after a teamhigh 16 for senior Sarah Brodner, a Virginia outside hitter commit.
“Even when we lose a point or two, I'm just like, ‘I need to get it right back,' “Glass said. “That's just the way my brain works.”
You could tell when she answered a point from Jupiter with an assist for sophomore Ashlyn Cobb's winning kill in set No. 2.
Or in the third set, when she delivered a kill to tie the score at 15 after Jupiter jumped out front, or getting another point to see the Scots with a 20-18 lead before another set-clinching assist for senior Morgan Mattson.
“The biggest thing for me is keeping that mindset throughout the whole match because I feel like that's really the difference between games like tonight,” Glass said. “I know there were points where I could've been more aggressive, I could've done this, so I just want to make sure when I'm playing I make the best of every opportunity.”
It's hard to fathom that Glass can play more aggressively than she did on Tuesday. After all, she was ranked the No. 1 setter for the 2025 recruiting class by Prep Dig Florida, and it's clear to see she spent the offseason growing with talented company between time spent with travel powerhouse Tribe Volleyball and training with USA Volleyball's National Team Development Program.
“She's just a fantastic player,” Jupiter coach Blane Betz said of Glass. “No matter what you do it's hard to shut her down because if you do one thing, she'll do the other. If you do the other, she'll do the other thing.”
As of a three-set sweep against Spanish River on Oct. 3, Glass is hitting .333 and is averaging 2.6 kills per set. She's second on the team in blocks and digs with 26 and 122, respectively, and to no one's surprise, Glass is the team leader in assists with 335, averaging 6.6 per set against just four handling errors.
“We got a few blocks on her, but you just can't shut a player like that down. You take what you can get and that's about it.”
Eyes on the postseason
Glass knows being “undersized” is just a cosmetic issue because her “amazing” teammates have proven to play through it well. She does think the Scots need to improve on the serve and serve-receive to get the offense going and keep it going through the postseason, which Glass is feeling good about.
Before district brackets are released in the coming days, St. Andrew's stands at No. 21 in Class 3A, fifth in Region 2 behind King's and Benjamin (12-4), and second in District 8. Again, they've already proven they can take down King's, ranked No. 1 in District 8, and that win isn't included in the Florida High School Athletic Association's most recent power rankings.
“I'm really happy with what we have going here and the improvement from the beginning of the season to now is incredible,” Glass said. “We came in at the beginning of the season kind of afraid and feeling like underdogs, but I feel like our mindsets have finally switched that we can compete with any team we play.”
The Scots are looking to come full circle and flip how this year's script started with a successful tournament appearance at Westminster Christian in Miami this weekend.
“We're in a really great spot right now. Our team is fired up, especially after that loss. We were so close, so I feel like that's going to motivate us more through the next match.”