St. Thomas Aquinas sees volleyball state ‘three-peat’ slip away

The three-peat slipped away.

No. 1 St. Thomas Aquinas dropped the Class 6A girls volleyball state championship match to No. 2 Oviedo on Saturday after winning the first two sets.

“They did it and we couldn’t counter,” St. Thomas Aquinas coach Lisa Zielinski said. “It’s called a reverse sweep when they get you like that. We just couldn’t get out of our own way.”

The Raiders (27-5) were vying for a three-peat and the ninth state title in the program’s history when Oviedo stormed back and won the title in five sets, 25-13, 25-17, 21-25, 17-25 and 12-15.

After the third set, Zielinski said they were focusing on just correcting some things they weren’t doing well in Game 3. And the fifth set was just about momentum.

“It was just about who makes the shots,” Zielinski said. “Who gets the tough points and that’s probably going to carry over to win a match like that. They got a couple of runs on us.”

Zielinski collected her 943nd win in the semifinal, tops in the state. She has eight state championships and four state runner-up finishes, but it was the first time St. Thomas lost a title game after winning the first two sets.

Zielinski has experienced both winning a three-peat bid and now watching one slip away.

“It’s never easy to get a state championship. Our class is one of the toughest,” Zielinski said. “Getting to this isn’t easy. It’s an honor to get to this point and we are disappointed we didn’t win it. Oviedo is a great team and they played really well.”

St. Thomas is losing seven seniors – five starters – but Zielinski said she will probably be back for another season and take a shot at getting a ninth title.

The Raiders were led by senior Isabella Sangha, a Notre Dame commit, with 18 kills and four digs while senior outside hitter Emmi Merhi added 27 passes, 16 digs and seven kills. Sophomore outside hitter Isabella Cabrera dished out 37 passes with nine digs and senior Hailey Trebbien finished with eight digs and two kills.

“We worked really hard the first two sets and we were really confident,” Sangha said. “But you can be as confident as you want, but unless you have the pieces together and you’re playing your best, effort is not enough.

“You have to play your best, too. We put in the effort but we couldn’t pull through. We lost today and there is a reason for that, but it will just push us in the future.”

Oviedo (25-7) was led by senior Avery Stephens, who posted an incredible 34 digs while dishing out 25 assists.