Gulliver volleyball tops Calvary Christian, earning another chance at state final four
The Miami Gulliver Prep girls’ volleyball team is trying not to leave anything to chance this time.
A year after seeing a promising season fall one game short of what would have been their first trip to the state final four, Gulliver is barely allowing opponents to even counterattack on the court.
The Raiders’ serving has become their biggest weapon and on Friday afternoon they used that to their advantage again during a dominant victory over visiting Fort Lauderdale Calvary Christian, 25-15, 25-16, 25-12 in a Region 4-4A semifinal at their home gym.
Gulliver (26-3), which entered the postseason ranked sixth overall in the state, earned a chance at redemption with another trip to the regional final where it will host Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest (19-9) on Tuesday night likely at 6 p.m.
It’s only the third time Gulliver has advanced to the regional finals and second in a row.
“We want to win the last game of the season and our message has been the same no matter who the opponent is,” Gulliver coach Emilio Rodriguez said. “Just play hard and represent.”
Gulliver’s serving helped it break open each of the first two sets after Calvary Christian dueled the Raiders for the first few points.
Sophia Wong led that effort with six aces while Hailey Brenner had two aces and five kills.
The pinpoint serving threw the Eagles’ counterattack off balance and helped Gulliver pounce for numerous key points up front.
“Hailey Brenner leads us in aces and Catalina Palazio are both serving consistent missiles,” Rodriguez said. “They can pick out zones effectively and it keeps teams off balance the entire time.”
Senior Jackie Taylor, a University of North Carolina commit, led the Raiders with 18 kills and had two blocks.
“Jackie is playing at a Division-I level and there hasn’t been an answer for her,” Rodriguez said. “She’s a catalyst offensively and she opens up a lot of offense for all our other players. But it depends on them to play good defense to open up chances for all our hitters.”
Julia Rose Rivera totaled eight kills and Kate Welty had six kills. Maya Pace also had two aces and totaled 30 assists.
“It’s something we’ve really put an emphasis on because especially in the playoffs, serving is your first chance to attack,” Rodriguez said. “We’ve been trying to get people out of their system right away from the first touch and today we did a good job of that.”
MORE SCORES
Region 4-3A: Miami Westminster Christian d. Doral Divine Savior 25-11, 25-10, 25-23; Miami Ransom Everglades d. Fort Lauderdale Westminster Academy 25-23, 25-11, 13-25, 25-21.
Region 4-2A: Jupiter Christian d. Weston Sagemont 25-16, 25-18, 25-21; Boca Raton Christian d. Miami Archbishop Carroll 25-10, 25-22, 27-25.
