Cristina Finan and three of her fellow seniors on Cypress Bay’s girls’ volleyball team ate tired of reaching the state playoffs only to see their season end in the opening round.
The Lightning (23-3) served notice Wednesday night this could be a special season. Led by Finan’s 15 kills, six digs and two aces, Cypress Bay rolled to a 25-10, 25-21, 25-17 victory over visiting Coral Springs (19-6) in a Region 4-8A quarterfinal.
Priscila Ertty had 19 assists and 2 kills. Tora Banos added seven digs.
“All the years I’ve been here we’ve always made it through districts and then lost in the regional quarters. To finally win it feels good,” said Finan, who fueled a 10-0 Lightning run in the first set to set the tone for the match.
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Next up: A rematch with district rival Western, which went on the road to knock off Douglas in four sets 17-25, 25-14, 25-8, 25-22. The match is scheduled for Monday night at Cypress Bay.
“It’s going to be awesome to play Western again because, obviously, they’re our biggest rivals,” Finan said. “It should be a good game.”
Cypress Bay, which reached the state semifinals in 2004 and 2002, hadn’t won a regional playoff game since 2008 before Wednesday night. The Lightning split the season series with Western and then knocked it off in the District 12-8A title game last week.
“We’re a lot more versatile,” Cypress Bay coach Chris Guerra said. “I have a lot of depth as opposed to last year when I didn’t have a lot of players on the bench I could really count on. This year everybody has an important role. They bring something to the team. The girls love playing with each other and for each other night in and out.
“We feel this can be our year.”
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