No. 5-seed Palmetto upsets district rivals Reef, Gables to win GMAC volleyball title
In any year and for any team, a Greater Miami Athletic Conference championship is a big deal. For Palmetto, an unlikely title might just make its season.
As recently as Tuesday, the Panthers were stuck in a four-game losing streak that put them multiple games below .500 in the penultimate week of the regular season. They were the No. 5 seed for the GMAC tournament and hadn’t beaten either of the top two teams in the field. Four days and four wins later, Palmetto is streaking into the playoffs after sweeping Coral Gables, 2-0 (25-19, 25-20), to win the conference’s girls’ volleyball championship Saturday in Miami.
“We’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs, had a bunch of different lineups we were trying,” Panthers coach Matt Kanakis said, “and it just all came together today at the end.”
Palmetto (12-10) didn’t drop a set all tournament, first sweeping American in the quarterfinals Friday, then doing the same to Coral Reef—the No. 1 seed and a district rival—in the semifinals Saturday before taking down the Cavaliers (17-4) for the second time this week in the title game later in the day at Miami Central Senior High School.
The Panthers also beat Coral Gables on Wednesday—in a regular non-tournament , district game—to jump start their winning streak.
Before this week, Palmetto was a clear step below the Barracudas and Cavaliers in District 16-7A—the Panthers hadn’t even taken a set of the district’s top two teams. Now, Palmetto knows it can hang with two of the top teams in Miami-Dade County.
“I think it’ll make our team better better for the playoffs,” Panthers senior Sienna Lawrence said. “We’ll definitely go far.”
Lawrence had six kills with two blocks, Julia Schmidt had nine kills and three aces, and fellow junior Giuliana Gaitan had seven kills and three aces.
The Panthers won by limiting their mistakes and out-serving Coral Gables, with eight aces to the Cavaliers’ two.
Their service edge helped them pull out of their most dangerous moment, too. After leading for all but four points on the way to a 25-19 win in the first set, Palmetto fell behind 12-4 in the second. The Panthers took a timeout, got a timely kill from Lawrence—after a clutch dig by freshman Peyton Banens—and then sent Ava Graziano back to the service line.
The Palmetto senior fired an ace and then another to trim Coral Gables’ second-set lead to 12-7. The Panthers scored five of the next six points and 12 of the next 14 to go up 17-14.
Palmetto never trailed again.
“We just had to regroup and get better,” Lawrence said, “and we did it.”
The Panthers play four freshmen and two sophomores, and so they knew they would need time to come together this year. In its biggest match of the season, Palmetto got 10 digs from freshman Carmela Rosenberg to support a slew of big scoring performances from upperclassmen, including Lawrence, Schmidt, Gaitan and Graziano, who dished out 11 assists.
With their district tournament just a few weeks away and some more rematches almost certain, the Panthers now feel ready for whatever is ahead.
“We’ve gone through a lot of losses this season,” Schmidt said, “so it really turns us around and gives us hope that we can win more in districts.”