Ferguson volleyball heads to state

For the third time in the last four years, Ferguson traveled to West Broward High School for a Region 4-9A volleyball final. And for the third time in the last four years, the result was exactly the same as the Falcons, like they did last year and in 2013, rolled to a straight set win, 25-17, 25-13, 25-18 and punch their ticket to the state final four.

The Falcons (25-2), who actually dropped their district championship match to Southwest and came through the runnerup bracket, advance to the 9A state semifinal where they will face a tall order on Saturday as they host Boca Raton, the No. 1 ranked team in the state on Saturday at 2 p.m.

“They’re one of the strongest teams in the state, some really big girls so it will be a challenge,” said Ferguson head coach Greg Shanower. “But the game has to be played and we’re hoping we’ll get a big crowd in our gym and tap in on the experience we’ve gotten over the past years as this will be our third trip to state in the last four years.”

Ferguson lost to Lake Mary in the 2013 state semifinal and then dropped a five-set heartbreaker up in Jupiter in last year’s semi.

“We really, really want it this year and knew we needed to come out strong tonight and take care of business early and get out to a quick start,” said senior captain and Quinipiac University commit Michelle Cuervo who led the way for the Falcons with a whopping 15 kills. “We’ve trained really hard, all summer long, taking on good competition and hopefully that will be enough to get us over the top this time. Plus we’re going to have the home crowd behind us this time. It’s a real blessing to have the whole community, family and friends come out to support us and we’re looking forward to that Saturday.

Alexandra Gonzalez (13 kills, 1 ace, 10 digs), Melanie Cuervo (30 assists, seven digs) and Grace Ieremia (four kills, three blocks) also played a big part in the Ferguson win.

Unfortunately it was another frustrating end for West Broward as the Bobcats, who finished 15-9, dropped their fourth consecutive regional final. They were led by Jenna Baron and Julia Friedrich with eight and seven kills, respectively.

This story was originally published November 1, 2016 at 9:43 PM with the headline "Ferguson volleyball heads to state."