Lourdes’ Guzman, Westminster’s Matias and Artiles are Dade Volleyball Players of the Year
Westminster Christian’s Zoey Matias and Gigi Artiles knew they’d only get one more chance to win a state championship together.
They made the most of it.
And at Lourdes, Olivia Guzman had spent years on a team which had not known what it was like to even play for a state championship.
Mission accomplished.
The duo of Matias and Artiles led the way for the Warriors, who snapped a string of five consecutive seasons losing in the state final and brought home the school’s first state title since 2016.
Guzman was also able to lead her team to a breakthrough as she helped the Bobcats make it to the state final for the first time in program history.
For those efforts and more, the three standouts are the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade County Girls’ Volleyball Players of the Year.
Artiles and Matias share honors as this year’s Class 4A-1A Players of the Year while Guzman is the 7A-5A winner.
Matias had been on the five previous squads for Westminster, which had some short of the state title right at the finish line and willed her team to victory.
“After going so many times and falling short I felt even more determined to win it and I was not going to let our team lose,” Matias said. “I had that in my head from the beginning. We said to ourselves let’s win it not only for ourselves but for all those that have come in the past.”
Matias, a 5-6 senior outside hitter, who can also play setter and libero and is a University of Missouri signee, finished with 323 kills, 332 digs, 65 assists and 52 aces this season.
Artiles, an athletic 6-2 junior outside hitter and University of Georgia commit, had her greatest season yet as she finished with 375 kills, 274 digs and 44 aces. Artiles also won this year’s Gatorade Player of the Year and Florida Dairy Farmers Player of the Year honors.
The two are looking to team up again to try and lead Westminster to a beach volleyball state title this spring before Matias leaves for college.
“(Missouri) made it to the Sweet 16 last season and it’s such a huge family,” Matias said. “They have a great culture there. I’ve visited three times and already feel connected to them.”
Guzman, a 6-1 senior right side, formed part of a strong core of players in recent years for a Lourdes squad which continually advanced to the regional round of the playoffs, but had been denied a trip to state. After coming up short two consecutive seasons in the regional finals, the Bobcats finally broke through this season after beating Archbishop McCarthy in that round. The state title dream fell one match short as Lourdes lost to Tallahassee Chiles. But Guzman, a Tampa University signee who finished with 246 kills, 41 blocks and 41 digs, believes this is only the beginning for Lourdes.
“We were looking forward to that since I was a freshman and we knew this would be the year since we had seven seniors,” Guzman said. “Although we lost in the finals, it’s still a great accomplishment where we left off. We set a strong tone for everyone else coming in.”
