PORT ST. LUCIE — Going two-for-two is a pretty good winning percentage.
The Legacy High School volleyball team has established that kind of efficiency in district tournaments.
In the program’s second year of existence, the Lions captured their second consecutive district title. However, title No. 2 had a key difference from historic title No. 1: The team got to celebrate on its home floor.
Legacy dispatched South Fork in three sets in the District 13-4A final Thursday night at Legacy High School. Set scores were 25-22, 25-11 and 25-20.
It also marked the first district title won on Legacy's campus in any sport.
“This means so much. We love this place,” Legacy head coach Christy Quigley said. “We love our teachers, we love our administration, we love our students. And we love to be here just to play in front of them. Our girls love it here.”
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The opening set was by far the closest of the match. It featured nine ties, the latest coming at 22-22 and leading to a Quigley timeout.
The Lions (21-7) roared back onto the floor by scoring the next three points. A kill from senior outside hitter Taylor Smith was followed by an ace that landed on the back line from senior setter Meredith Prince. Senior right-side hitter Sophia Spychalla closed out the set with a kill.
“We needed to calm down just a little bit, play our game and get back to what we do best,” Quigley said. “We needed to get back to our serve receive, get a pass to our setter so we can set up our hitters.”
Legacy captured the next two sets convincingly.
The Lions seized control in the second set with a 9-1 run before using an 11-1 surge to pull away. Senior middle blocker Jordyn Johnson closed out the set with a kill following a long rally. In the final set, Legacy broke a 13-13 tie with a 7-1 run that included a pair of aces from Lyla Barker-Bray.
The junior outside hitter kicked off the celebration with a kill down the middle of the floor. Barker-Bray also delivered the championship point during last year’s district title victory against John Carroll.
“This time around, I knew this was the last point,” she said. “I just got a swing and crushed it. It was a moment where I wasn’t really thinking, but I just knew the game was on the line, and let’s finish it here. It just feels really good to have done it back-to-back.”
Barker-Bray led the Lions with 10 kills, followed by Smith's eight kills and seven apiece from Johnson and senior middle block Bailey Johanson. Junior libero Paisley Woods added 14 digs while Prince had an outstanding all-around performance, recording 32 assists, 11 digs, three blocks and two kills. She was one of three players with three aces.
"It feel awesome and I love to be able to (win) as a senior cause I don't know how many more opportunities I've have to play volleyball," Prince said. "It just makes me happy to knowing that we're setting the standard for the rest of the girls and that the girls who come after us are going to know what our expectations are. And our expectations are to win."
This was Legacy’s second win this season against South Fork. The first also was a sweep on Sept. 1. Bulldogs head coach Cherese Wiggins said her team entered Thursday with a game plan centered on putting up a big block, but ultimately struggled to slow the Lions' attack.
“We had some great moments. We tried to hang in there the best we could, but we needed to play a cleaner match and be more consistent,” Wiggins said.
Legacy entered the tournament as the district’s top seed, while South Fork was seeded third.
Following the victory, the Lions now turn their attention to Sunday’s FHSAA bracket release to see whether they have secured home-court advantage throughout the regional playoffs. They began the week as the top team in Region 4-4A, holding a narrow edge over second-place Lourdes Academy.
The Bulldogs were on the opposite end of the spectrum, entering the week on the postseason bubble. However, their run to the district championship match likely erased any concerns about missing the playoffs.
This story will be updated.
Patrick Bernadeau is a sports reporter for Treasure Coast Newspapers. He can be reached at 772-985-9692, on X at @PatBernadeau or via email at pbernadeau@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Startup program to back-to-back: Legacy volleyball makes more district history
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