That discipline is part of the Gibbons tradition, just like rising to the moment.

Wynn (nine blocks), sophomore Crystal Dedes (eight blocks, 12 kills) and freshman Katie Hillman (seven blocks) combined for 24 of Gibbons' 34 blocks.

Molly Macek, whom Farland calls ''our all-everything player,'' made some incredible saves to keep long volleys alive and finished with 19 digs, two kills and eight service points. Setter Kayley McLaughlin, one of only three seniors, had 22 assists.

''We're babies,'' Farland said. ``This is such a young team.''

Just old enough to keep that ageless tradition alive.

''It's the same tradition, just a new chapter,'' Wynn said. ``Absolutely, this is just the beginning. We're taking state. That's all there is to it.''

• St. Thomas Aquinas d. Martin County: First came the minor setback, then the adjustments, capped by the barrage of timely blocks to propel the St. Thomas Aquinas girls' volleyball team to Lakeland next weekend for its second consecutive state final four appearance.

The Raiders dropped the first game of their Region 4-5A title match to visiting Martin County, but brushed it off to take control the rest of the way with a 3-1 victory (24-26, 25-14, 25-17, 25-20) Saturday at St. Thomas.

''We don't get down after losing our first game, like some teams would,'' St. Thomas' Brittany Linder said after leading her team with 10 blocks, with five of them coming in a 7-2 spurt that closed out the match.

``We were really strong in our blocking game, and we had our energy up after that first game.''

The Raiders, who improved to 24-5, will face Tampa Plant (28-8) in an 8 p.m. Class 5A semifinal match Friday at the Lakeland Center.

Kelly Marble, who led St. Thomas with 14 kills, also provided the presence at the net that was needed to offset the dominating presence of Tigers 6-5 hitter Elise Walch, a junior, and her 6-1 freshman sister, Nicole. Elise finished with 15 kills, and it was Nicole's block that clinched the first game for the Tigers (22-8) in a tight first game.

''In that first game, I think we were just trying to feel out the other team,'' Aquinas coach Lisa Zielinski said. ``I wouldn't say that's how I planned it, but it was a way to see how we matched up and what we had to focus on.

``I hadn't known much about their big hitter [Elise Walch] because she hadn't played for them until now [because of injury]; other than that, there wasn't much information about them.''

Zielinski's daughter, Stephanie, who finished with 27 assists and nine kills, helped turn the tide quickly in the Raiders' favor in the second game while getting help from Martin County with the frequency of unforced errors. The mistakes piled up early for the visitors as St. Thomas jumped out to a 7-2 lead, then closed it out on a 7-2 spurt with Dee Dee Dennis ending the game with a kill off a Stephanie Zielinski set.

The Tigers again failed to recapture their momentum from the early portion of the match in Game 3 as the Raiders jumped out to a 7-0 lead with libero Anne Langsenkamp serving. A service error by Martin County's Molly O'Neil put St. Thomas up 2-1.

The visitors fought gamely in the final game as the teams were tied at 18 before Linder went wild with the knockout blocks to put away the Tigers.

''Actually, everybody that came up [to the net on the rotation] did a good job of blocking, Brittany, Dee Dee and Kelly,'' Zielinski said, ``especially in the second, third and forth games. Blocking involves a lot of jumping, so to be able to jump like that [late in the match] tells me about their fitness level. That was one of the differences, too.''

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