Westminster Christian’s quest for a state volleyball title falls short in five-set thriller

The moment was an awkward one to say the least.

The Class 3A state championship game was in the books, and the Westminster Christian girls’ volleyball team was presented a trophy and individual medals and then asked to pose for a photo.

But there were no smiles to be given out. It was tears of despair, not joy, for the Warriors as they were presented the runnerup trophy and medals they were forced to accept.

That followed a heartbreaking 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-12) loss to Sarasota Cardinal Mooney in the Class 3A state championship game on Saturday night at Suncoast Credit Union Arena in a match that took nearly two-and-a-half hours to complete.

Westminster was looking for its third ever state title and first since 2016.

“They were better, I don’t know what else to say,” said disappointed WC coach Julie Doan-Kurenuma. “When you make it to this point, everybody is good and Mooney was just a little bit better than us tonight. Tonight doesn’t take anything away from the great season we had. It’s extremely hard to make it all the way to this game and I’m still extremely proud of our girls.”

The heartbreaking aspect for Doan-Kurenuma and her players was the fact that, after winning two of the first three sets to go up 2-1, they jumped out to a huge 10-2 lead in the fourth and had the state title in their sights.

But Cardinal Mooney, a team that won its first ever state title and suffered its own heartbreak a year ago when the Cougars squandered a 2-0 lead against Ocala Trinity Catholic in the state final, battled all the way back.

Led by a huge front line in Skye Ekes, Anna Klemeyer and Jordyn Byrd, who combined for 37 kills, Mooney went on a 22-10 run to go up 24-20 before staving off a late Warriors rally to close out the set 25-23.

After falling behind 5-2 in the fifth and deciding set, Westminster, led by Saskia Hernandez who was huge all night finishing with 25 kills, got the tide turned and rallied to go up 10-7.

But, just five points away from the state title, they couldn’t close it out as once again, Mooney (22-10) dug down and rallied to close out the match on an 8-2 run and began celebrating with their fans at midcourt.

“It was right there, we were really close but we just couldn’t close it out,” said Hernandez. “They just came up with a few more big plays than us when they needed it. This hurts but I’m still proud of my teammates. We had a great season and we’ll be back.”

Alyah Cadavid (10 kills), Trinity Gibson (9 kills), Sydney Bond (34 assists) and Amanda Tesserot (28 digs) all turned in strong efforts for Westminster, which finished 27-5.

“They were just a little better than us tonight,” said Gibson, one of only two seniors on the team. “It was two really good teams giving it everything they had and I’m still proud of how far we made it.”

Girls’ soccer

▪ Archbishop McCarthy 8, Westminster Academy 0: Sophia Goetz 2 goals, 1 assist; Jordyn Pitter 2 goals, Madison Burkhard 1 goal; Cassie Lawson 1 goal; Jessica Gonzalez 1 goal; Lili Katz 1 goal; Nadia Colon 4 assists; Eliana Ramirez 1 assist; Bella Rocco 1 assist. Mavericks 2-0.

Boys’ soccer

▪ Ransom Everglades 4, Pine Crest 0: Danny Mendoza 2 goals, 1 assist; Joe Gross 2 goals, 2 assists; Juan Rivera 1 assist; Walker White shutout.

▪ Doral 5, American Heritage (Delray) 0: Enzo Traini 1 goal, Matias Cavallo 2 goals, Mathias Vallejo 1 goal, Manuel Calvo 1 goal. Doral 2-0.

This story was originally published November 16, 2019 at 10:05 PM.