The Falcons downed Calvary Christian Academy on Saturday afternoon on their home court 3-1 to capture the Region 4-2A championship for the second time in four years.

Palmer traded point for point with the Eagles (18-8) in Game 4, but managed to stay a step ahead in the 25-12, 25-11, 22-25, 25-21 win.

''We did a good job of keeping our cool and playing controlled in the last game,'' Palmer Trinity coach William Gonzalez said. ``The girls knew what was at stake and had been working hard for the chance to get back to Lakeland.''

Freshman Paulina Prieto had a team-high 11 kills, while chipping in seven blocks, three aces and three digs.

''I'm so excited,'' Prieto said. ``This is all we ever really wanted. We started talking about it over the summer and would think about it while we ran the track.''

The Falcons (24-7) led 11-5 in Game 1 when they finally opened a lead behind the timely serving of Kristen Titley, whose three-point run gave Palmer a 14-5 lead.

Titley, a junior, added nine kills and eight digs.

''They were pretty tough,'' Titley said of Calvary. ``We got our offense going once they beat us in Game 3. It's so exciting to get back to Lakeland because when we last went, I was in eighth grade.''

Senior Laura Posada, who had four kills and two blocks, was a member of the 2005 team that last made an appearance in Lakeland.

Setter Sarah Alfonso had a dominant game with 56 assists, including a few key ones in Game 4 to seal the win.

-- MELISSA ARTEAGA

And it came at the wrong time.

During a Region 4-1A final match Saturday, visiting Lake Worth Christian came into the Falcons' gymnasium and dominated, handing them a 25-5, 25-14, 25-15 defeat.

The loss snapped Redland Christian's 18-game winning streak and stopped the Falcons from making it to the state tournament for the second straight year.

''My team didn't bring their A game and didn't play their level of volleyball -- that was obvious,'' Redland Christian coach Rhonda Carr said. ``I don't think they were intimidated, I just think that they didn't bring it -- they just didn't bring it. If three or four don't play their game, forget about it.''

Because Redland Christian (18-1) never gets much competition during the regular season, some players pretend to be star players from better teams in practice.

Usually, kills leader Kaylyn Carr is Lake Worth Christian's Becki Meerbeek.

But, judging from Saturday, that didn't help the Falcons prepare for the real thing.

Because of Redland Christian's lack of size in the front line, Meerbeek, a middle blocker, was free to roam and barely got any contention on her way to a game-high 21 kills as the Falcons fell out of it from the get-go.

Lake Worth Christian (26-4) started off on a 12-0 run and scored 11 unanswered later to cruise through the rest of Game 1. Game 2 was similar, as Lake Worth Christian started with a 9-0 lead and built its advantage to as many as 12.

The only time the Defenders trailed in the match was when Redland Christian started off Game 3 with three unanswered points. But Lake Worth Christian came back with a 9-0 run and proved to be too much for Redland Christian.

Although her team was on the losing side, Carr -- who started the school's athletic program from scratch eight years ago -- can take some comfort in the fact that all seven of the girls who cruised through yet another regular season will be back next year, with five being seniors.

'I told them before the game, `Whatever happens, I'm proud of you guys,' '' Carr said. ``I have to be proud of them for what they did and how far they made it this year -- top eight in the state [in Class 1A].

``I'm not going to harp on it. Just work harder next year.''

-- ALDEN GONZALEZ

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@