Resilient St. Brendan outlasts Gulliver to secure trip to volleyball state semifinals
St. Brendan girls’ volleyball team captain Sofia Sanchez couldn’t catch her breath.
The intensity between the Sabres and rival Gulliver Prep didn’t let up for a single point on Tuesday night.
But neither did Sanchez even after spending a scary couple of minutes on the Sabres’ bench being attended to by a team trainer.
Sanchez rejoined her St. Brendan teammates on the court moments later.
About an hour after that, the Sabres still had plenty of energy to rush the court and celebrate with their fans following a 19-25, 26-24, 24-26, 25-23, 15-12 victory over the host Raiders in the Region 4-4A championship.
“We just knew we had to keep going and keep pushing and we really wanted to make it to state,” said Sanchez, who finished with 52 assists.
St. Brendan (19-7), which had lost to Gulliver (26-4) twice this season, narrowed the gap during each match.
The Sabres finally figured out how to overcome their biggest obstacle in the decisive meeting and clinched their first trip to the state semifinals since 2019 and fourth overall in program history.
“I have no words,” St. Brendan coach Jorge Perez said. “This is my first trip as a head coach to state and it’s all because of these kids.”
Perez, a former assistant coach at Palmer Trinity, crouched down for a moment at center court after the match and exhaled amid the bedlam that was going on around him with students, parents and players all jumping and celebrating.
“We did it,” Perez shouted just seconds before one of his team’s supporters gave him a big hug and lifted him off his feet.
St. Brendan’s quest to win the school’s second-ever state title and first since 1976 will hit the road again when the Sabres face Academy of the Holy Names in a Class 4A state semifinal in Tampa on Friday at 7 p.m.
Sanchez, the Sabres’ starting setter, conducted their attack with 58 assists. Her accurate passing set up frequent chances for Ana Sofia Tobar, who led St. Brendan with 16 kills and two aces and the combination of Jordan Medina and Annelise Alvarez, who each had 12 kills. Nikki Baltodano totaled 42 digs, five assists and finished with a 2.25 pass rating.
After Gulliver won the first set, the Raiders had an opportunity to potentially win the second when Jackie Taylor appeared to hit a ball over for a likely kill. But the ball clipped the net and spun back onto Gulliver’s side landing for a Sabres point. St. Brendan took the second set on the ensuing point.
Gulliver erased a 15-6 lead to come back and win the third. But behind Tobar and Emelee Lopez, the Sabres jumped out to another big lead in the fourth and hung on this time. St. Brendan jumped out to a 10-5 lead in the fifth and did not trail with Tobar clinching the match with a kill.
“I kept telling the kids it has to be mind first and be strong (mentally) and they believed it,” Perez said. “They just wanted it more this time and we prepared so hard for this Gulliver team.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2022 at 12:08 AM.
