St. Thomas Aquinas survives grueling final to secure back-to-back state volleyball titles

It wasn’t exactly rinse and repeat. It was more like going through the wringer.

St. Thomas Aquinas repeated as Class 6A girls volleyball state champions after five grueling-but-thrilling sets on Saturday at the FHSAA Finals at Polk State College.

The Raiders held off Gulf Breeze 25-23, 21-25, 25-17, 21-25 and 16-14 to capture their eighth state title in program history.

“They have always done well in adverse situations, even on Friday when they were down by a point, in the game-point, and we were able to come back and win the (semifinal) match,” St. Thomas head coach Lisa Zielinski said.

“When you get to the state final, and everything is on the line, and there are two excellent teams, it is not surprising to go to five sets.”

St. Thomas (22-7) was led by senior setter Mikayla Porter, who posted 20 kills, 23 assists and 15 digs while senior outside hitter Zori Brown had 14 kills, 23 digs and five blocks.

“They are very calm in these situations and they have experience in these situations,” Zielinski said. “I don’t feel they were rattled when it was tight at the end of the fifth game.”

Porter said she kept looking at her teammates and shouting encouraging words to bring the victory home.

“It was very neck-and-neck, point after point, but their confidence on the court showed,” said Porter, who compared the back-to-back state title this way.

“Last year was (sweeter), if it is OK to say that, but this year was more challenging. This year is something totally different.”

Brown said the most difficult thing about repeating as state champions was putting all the pieces together.

“I feel like all season we were trying to make things work. This tournament we finally put the puzzle pieces together and gave it our all,” Brown said.

Zielinski has rolled up 916 wins, eight state championships, 16 regional titles and 33 district championships for St. Thomas over 37 seasons.

Also for Aquinas, Emmi Merhi finished with 11 kills and 12 digs, Malia Brooks had 25 assists and 18 digs, Tameary Wardlaw had 27 digs and Kendall Evans had eight blocks and five kills.

This story was originally published November 9, 2024 at 7:11 PM.