The top-seeded Ferguson girls' volleyball team had lost neither a district game nor a game to a Miami-Dade opponent this season, but coach Greg Shanower knew Southwest could stand in its way Wednesday night in the District 15-6A semifinals.

``In my eyes, they are the best team not to advance,'' Shanower said of Southwest. ``They are a very hard-working, focused and tough team to beat, but my girls played their game, and our serving was the difference.''

Ferguson swept past the Eagles 25-15, 25-17, 25-17 and will turn its attention to Lourdes for the District 15-6A crown.

This is the third consecutive regional appearance for Ferguson, which faces the Bobcats (14-12) at Ronald Reagan on Friday evening.

Mackenzie Webster, a senior, led the way for the Falcons with 12 kills and 10 digs.

Fellow senior hitter Alexandra Beverly added 11 kills and seven digs, and Alexandra Walewski chipped in seven kills and 13 digs.

After the opener, Ferguson used a 5-1 run in the second game to grab the momentum and then followed with a 19-13 spurt before it held off a late charge by the Eagles (16-6).

Lourdes knocked off South Miami 25-19, 25-20, 25-19 in the night's other semifinal.

District 16-6A semifinals at Homestead:

For an experienced team like Palmetto, playoff time is when all of the concepts preached during the season come together. On Wednesday, their quest to return to the final four began as they soundly defeated Varela 25-14, 25-23, 25-14 in the opening round of the District 16-6A tournament over at Homestead High School. ``Tonight we played the best game of the season so far,'' Kim Latshaw said. Palmetto was a different team on Wednesday as the intense ball control and tipping drills gave way to a new wrinkle in the Panther attack. ``[Varela] prepared for us to come out hitting, but we were tipping and they weren't prepared for that,'' Latshaw said. Palmetto came out very patient and found the spaces where they were able to easily tip the ball to. In the nightcap, top-seeded Killian started out rough against Coral Reef but were able to right the ship and win 22-25, 25-12, 25-11, 25-14. ``Coral Reef was playing like never before, and the girls were taken aback,'' Killian coach Clinton Reid said. ``I told the girls that they knew how to hit, they knew how to play, so all they had to do was show them.'' Jaclyn Lapointe was fundamental on the defense as she came up with 27 digs.-- JUAN ARANGO

MORE GIRLS' VOLLEYBALL

• Pace d. La Salle 15-25, 22-25, 25-22, 25-19, 15-14: Sydney Cook had 11 kills, six blocks, eight digs. Stephanie Mendigutia had 30 assist for kills, 17 service points. Daniel Mendez had 10 kills, 23 digs, three blocks. PAC 13-9.

• Norland d. Key West 25-20, 19-25, 25-14, 23-25, 15-12: Anita Amison had 20 service points. Andy Jackson had 18 service points. NOR 7-6.

• Ranson d. Archbishop Carroll 25-23, 28-26, 25-13: Carla Pacini had 10 kills, four blocks. RAN 15-9.

• Lourdes d. South Miami 25-20, 25-19, 25-19: Carolina Muche had 14 kills, 13 digs, Katherine Zamora had 27 assists. Lauren Silva had 10 kills. LOU 15-12.

• Guliver d. Coral Shores 26-24, 25-16, 25-18: Katie Mark had 14 kills, six digs. Ali Mondini had six kills, six digs. Lauren Darmanin had 13 digs, five aces. GUL 10-5.

• Mater d. Westland Hialeah 25-5, 25-4, 25-10: Jenna Isaacs had 10 kills. Maria Carcache had seven aces and six kills. Krystle Garcia had 12 digs. MAT 20-6.

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@