Gibbons volleyball is on brink of record 21st state title after ousting reigning champion
The wall to the back of Cardinal Gibbons at each of its home girls’ volleyball matches is wallpapered with reminders of the program’s storied history. Behind the Chiefs are 20 state-championship banners — five from 1975-1979, six from 1984-1989, five from 1992-1996, another four from 23 years since. It’s why they celebrated their four-set victory against Orlando Lake Highland Prep with the same chant Cardinal Gibbons has belted out for generations.
“Let’s get some banners!” the Chiefs song over and over again after finishing off the fourth set inside the Cardinal Gibbons High School gymnasium. For the first time since 2015, the Chiefs are one win away from adding to their record state-championship total.
“That’s actually a tradition that’s been going on at this school for generations,” outside hitter Dylan Andrews said, “like years, and years and years.”
Andrews led the way with 20 kills — 45.5 percent of the Cheifs’ 44 total — and Cardinal Gibbons regrouped after a third-set loss to win 3-1 (25-21, 25-22, 20-25, 25-21) in a Class 4A semifinal.
The Chiefs (7-3) advance to face Jacksonville Bishop Kenny in the 4A championship Friday in Fort Myers. Cardinal Gibbons is going for its 21st state title. Bishop Kenny is searching for its second.
To get back to the brink of a championship, the Chiefs first had to go through the reigning 4A champion. Lake Highland (14-5) won its sixth title last year and traveled to Fort Lauderdale with a few serious advantages. Most notably, the Highlanders’ regular season began before Cardinal Gibbons could even start preseason conditioning and they played nearly 10 more games than the Chiefs this season.
Cardinal Gibbons didn’t start any of its preseason preparation until the final weeks of September with the COVID-19 pandemic particularly affecting life in South Florida. The Chiefs only had time to play four regular season games, so coach Kathryn Reeber made sure they were the four hardest she could find.
They won only one match in the regular season and got swept three times.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was a learning experience,” Reeber said, “and they learned so much from that and they didn’t get discouraged by it.”
Since the postseason began in October, Cardinal Gibbons has rolled. The Chiefs swept through the first three rounds, beat Pine Crest in four in the Region 4-4A semifinal, then eked out a five-set win against St. Brendan in the Region 4 championship.
A year ago, the Sabres cut short Cardinal Gibbons’ season in the region semifinal. It was nowhere near the standard Cardinal Gibbons has set.
“Everyone watching from last year, it kind of was like, OK, this is not the team that we usually are,” Andrews said. “Everybody took that as a learning lesson, as a lesson coming into this season.”
Andrews was the only player back in the exact same role, but setter Valeria Lozada, libero Bailey Gilman, and outside hitter Jessica Cinci all rose into starting roles.
Lozada handed out 41 of the Chiefs’ 47 assists, Gilman had 10 digs and four assists, and Cinci finished second on the team with 16 kills.
In the first set, Cardinal Gibbons fell behind 9-4 and called a timeout. From there, the Chiefs scored six straight points to take a lead and started on their way to a first-set victory. In the second set, Cardinal Gibbons never trailed and fended off a late push from Lake Highland to take a commanding 2-0 lead.
Even in the third set, the Chiefs took control early and led 14-10 before the Highlanders rallied to force a fourth set by closing out the frame on a 15-6 run.
“We came out with the adrenaline and the rush,” Reeber said, “and then in the third I think we just started to get a little tired.”
Reeber reminded her players about all they had been through so far this season. From doubting whether they would have a season, they were now one win away from reaching the state final for the first time since 2015.
Cardinal Gibbons rallied around its two seniors — Lozada and outside hitter Manuela Williamson — and the Chiefs pulled around them one more time to give them end a rare title drought in their unusual senior year.
“Once we finally found out we were getting a season, we pushed even harder to get to where we are now for them,” Andrews said. “We obviously want them to go home with tears of joy instead of crying because they lost.”
