Strawberry Crest volleyball hosted the Ridge Community High School Bolts on Tuesday, winning the match in three straight sets to advance through the semifinal round and earn a spot in the 7A District 10 Final against top-seed Winter Haven on Thursday.
Crest started the first set by scoring the first two points and eventually racing out to an 11-5 lead before Ridge was able to stop the Chargers’ early run. But Crest continued to put up point after point as they extended their lead to 17-9, only for Ridge to rattle off eight consecutive points to knot the set up at 17-17, then 18-18, then 20-20 before the Chargers were able to hold off Ridge for a 25-21 set victory.
In the second set, Crest took an early 5-2 lead before Ridge rallied out to an 8-5 advantage and held their first lead of the night. But Crest responded with three consecutive points to knot it up at 8-8 and did not allow the Bolts to ever retake the lead as they pulled away to 24-15 — their largest lead of the match — before eventually taking the second set 25-19.
The third set was the most tightly-contested set of the night, with Ridge taking an early 2-0 lead before later holding a 6-4 lead after the two teams battled back and forth in the early minutes of the set. Crest battled back for a 7-6 lead but Ridge snatched it right back at 8-7 and pulled away to a 10-7 lead before Crest stopped the Bolts’ run. Ridge would then hold a sustained lead for much of the match, but to the Chargers’ credit they never let the Bolts’ lead extend past four points at any point before knotting the set up at 15-15. The Bolts pulled back ahead at 16-15 and the Chargers answered to tie the set. The Bolts then pulled ahead 18-16 but once again the Chargers answered with two points of their own to tie the set at 18-18. Ridge scored the next point to lead 19-18 and it was the final lead they would hold in the match as Crest outlasted the Bolts’ best efforts to eventually take the third set 25-22.
“We didn’t have any information going in about that team but they have some very, very talented players on that team and we played about as flawless as I could ask for,” head coach Robert Dodson said. “On our front row, the sets were going up and Amanda Siomiak, our libero tonight, was unreal. I was just talking to the coaches about the number of digs she threw up tonight and it felt like she was picking up the world. The front line blocked between Brooklyn Zajac and Savannah Schwarz, they were just lights out. We got some extra offensive firepower from one of our freshmen that we brought up, Lillian Terrell. Then there was straight up consistency like normal from our seniors. Morgan McGuire is continuing to throw up sets the way she’s supposed to, Alissa McBee is adding the firepower in from the outside, I couldn’t be more proud of the way the girls played tonight. If they play with that kind of fight against Winter Haven, we’ll give them a run for their money. Maybe this is another year where Strawberry Crest brings home another district title and then we’ll see how far we can go into states and considering that it’s our first year in 7A, I’m excited to see what this team has to offer.”
The win moves Crest to 14-10 on the year, besting their 13-win season in 2021 and marking their highest single-season win total since finishing 15-9 in 2015. The Chargers will now head to Winter Haven on Thursday to face the Blue Devils after falling 2-0 in their only meeting earlier in the year, the match coming in a September tournament as Crest dealt with multiple key injuries.
“We have to play our game against Winter Haven,” Dodson said. “We can’t let it get frustrating and we can’t shut it down if we get a couple of points down. We have to swing and swing hard, tips aren’t going to work. You need to go after them and you have to keep pounding and we have the players to do that, it’s just a matter of whether or not we can come out and pass up enough balls to put it to the ground over and over again. They have it in them. If they communicate, stay together, and have each other’s back, they’ve got a shot against Winter Haven.”