Divine Savior tops Westminster in regional final to snap state volleyball streak
In order to slay the giant, you can’t have any fear.
From its first day of practice this fall, the Divine Savior’s girls’ volleyball team never shied away from mentioning its longtime foe by name.
The Sharks knew very well the road to a state title went through reigning state champion Miami Westminster Christian.
The Warriors were the team that repeatedly had denied Divine Savior a chance at that same prize.
On Tuesday night, the Sharks finally turned the tide.
Led by senior and University of Miami commit Ruth Martinez’s 21 kills, Divine Savior put together a convincing 25-12, 25-15, 27-25 victory over Westminster Christian in the Region 4-2A final in front of a capacity crowd at the Sharks’ home gym.
“This feels great because we worked so hard from the start of the season and we did it,” Martinez said. “We stayed in our game and we kept our focus every point and just played with our hearts.”
For the first time since 2018 when it won its lone state title, Divine Savior (29-1) is headed to the state semifinals. The Sharks, who advanced to state with only one loss for the first time since that championship season, will be the No. 2 seed and play No. 3 seed Tampa Prep (20-7) in a Class 2A semifinal on Monday at 4 at Polk State College in Winter Haven. Maitland Orangewood Christian is the top seed and will face Naples First Baptist in the other semifinal. The championship match is on Wednesday at 10 a.m.
For the first time since 2018, Westminster Christian (18-11) will not play in the state final four.
The loss halted one of the most impressive runs ever by a South Florida team after the Warriors advanced to the state final each of the past six seasons and won their third-ever championship last season.
Westminster had eliminated Divine Savior from the playoffs each of the past five seasons with the last four coming in the regional finals.
“I have no words,” Divine Savior senior Kayla Lopes said. “We just felt like we deserved it the most. We’re 29-1 now and it was all hard work and dedication and we came out on the court and we wanted to show everyone.”
The Sharks dominated the majority of the match, cruising to wins in the first two sets.
They appeared ready to close things out in the third after building a 23-18 lead before the Warriors put together six consecutive points and threatened to send the match to a fourth set and swing the momentum with a 24-23 lead. The teams traded points and Westminster led 25-24.
But Divine Savior refused to give the Warriors any hope of a comeback.
After a service error tied the match at 25, senior middle Alexa Martinez came up with the most pivotal point of the match with a block up front to give the Sharks the lead.
Ruth Martinez then punched her team’s ticket to state with an emphatic spike to Westminster’s back row, which landed just inside the line for the winning point.
Sasha Kawas finished with 14 kills while Alexa Martinez totaled three blocks overall. Vicky Gutierrez had 26 assists and Kristina Mendoza had six blocks.
“All the girls’ emotions carried over from practice into this game and you could tell they really wanted this one,” Divine Savior coach Jorge Perez said. “This was our target since our first day of training. I just told them (especially in that third set) to remain calm and that this was going to be ours.”
This story was originally published October 29, 2025 at 11:33 AM.
