TITUSVILLE — Space Coast and Astronaut squared off in the District 8-3A Tournament semifinals on Oct. 14 with both teams holding the final two qualifying spots for the Class 3A, Region 2 state playoffs.
A win would further solidify one’s chances of playing in the next stage of the postseason. Astronaut took sets one and three, but Space Coast dug deep to win back-to-back sets by the minimum margin for an 18-25, 25-18, 19-25, 25-23, 15-13 win and a trip to the district final.
“These games are always about the same thing. It comes down to serve receive and staying in system because when they’re in system, we have a hard time stopping those middles,” Space Coast head coach Jay Penn said. “Our last two practices were getting ready for this game. We had a strict game plan of keep the ball on the right side of the court. We’re going to hit everything to the right side of the court.”
After falling behind 2-1, Space Coast forced a decisive fifth set with a 25-23 victory. The Vipers took advantage on a pair of War Eagle mistakes. They carried that momentum into the fifth set jumping out to an 8-4 lead on two kills from seniors Isabella Taylor and Ava Keller and aces from junior Gwen Cotham and seventh grader Gracie Taylor.
Astronaut saved two match points to cut the deficit to 14-13, but Space Coast closed it out on Keller’s 19th kill of the match.
“It was fun. I’m ecstatic,” Keller said. “The key was communication and a lot of energy on the court.”
Keller was the standout performer as she tied a season-high with 19 kills to go with 2 blocks.
“I feel like I did pretty good,” Keller said. “I got as many tools as I possibly could. You have to figure out how to put a ball down somehow.”
Penn used nearly his entire roster as 11 players scored at least one point for the Vipers. Battling through illness, Taylor finished with 10 kills and 4 aces. Senior Cecilia Stacer posted 8 kills and 2 blocks. Junior Alayna Smith produced 3 kills and 3 blocks.
“I literally emptied the bench and was trying to move pieces in and out the whole time. (Last night), I barely played Bella (Taylor). She’s so sick and I knew they were targeting her, but I’m like half of Bella is still better than most players in the county,” Penn said. “I just hope she was able to gut it out. Towards the end there, I started pulling Ava (Keller) out of the back row and that worried me because then I got a 12 year old, a 13 year old and a 14 year old back here on serve receive but they stepped up (tonight).”
Space Coast entered the district semifinal with a 2-5 record in matches that went the distance. It was the team’s first five-set win since Sept. 1 against Holy Trinity.
“It feels amazing. Definitely a relief off our shoulders,” Keller said. “We can push through. We can do this. We came out.”
The Vipers advanced to a district final for the second time in three years. They faced Merritt Island for the second time this season on Oct. 15. With a likely berth to the state playoffs in hand, Keller is ready to experience the next stage of the postseason for the first time in her senior year.
“It’s exciting. I’ve never experienced anything like this all four years,” Keller said. “It’s definitely a good feeling to knowing you accomplished something your last year.”
It was frustrating ending for Astronaut in evenly contested match. The War Eagles fell behind early deficits in the fourth and fifth sets after taking a 2-1 match lead.
They trailed 5-1 in the fourth set before coming back to tie the match at 20-20, 22-22 and 23-23. In set five, Space Coast led 13-9 before Astronaut pulled within a point. The War Eagles only led three times in the final two sets.
“I think it was back and forth. It wasn’t a surprise. Both teams are very similar in that when they’re playing well, they get very excited and when they’re not playing well, they kind of get down on themselves and it happened to both teams,” Astronaut head coach Diego Perez Gaitan said. “When we were playing well, they weren’t. When they were playing well, we weren’t. Neck and neck all the way through and they came out on top and they played well.”
Four War Eagles finished with double-digit kills. Seniors Lesleigh Amos and Kiya Russell finished with a dozen kills. Sophomores Charli Tipton and Madilyn Johnson recorded 11 kills.
Johnson matched her career high kills total in addition to 3 blocks.
“She (Johnson) definitely had her match of the season,” Perez Gaitan said. “She had some great swings. Had some great blocks. Definitely her best performance of the year.”
Astronaut concludes the district tournament with a 14-10 record. It’ll await to hear its name on Oct. 18 in hopes of its second straight state playoff berth.
“We’ll find out for sure exactly where our fate is on Sunday, but you can’t ever be sure. We should stay at seven,” Perez Gaitan said. “We had a big enough lead. If we drop to eight, then we’re still in it. We’ll watch the show on Sunday and find out where we go.”
Oct. 14 scores
District 8-3A Tournament
(1) Merritt Island def. (4) Titusville 3-0 (25-6, 25-12, 25-12)
The Mustangs swept the Terriers for the second time this season behind 39 kills and 19 aces. Senior Bella Becker served 7 aces and increased her aces total to 13 in the district tournament. She also produced 7 kills.
Mustangs junior Ema Michell finished the match with 12 kills, 3 digs and 3 aces. Junior Lydia Scott finished with 10 kills and junior Gena Walters tallied 7 kills.
Merritt Island senior Amber Ives dished out 28 assists and served 4 aces. Defensively, senior Whitney Wisniewski recorded 13 digs and senior Reece Loggins ended the match with 12 digs.
The Mustangs sought their 25th district championship in school history on Oct. 15 against Space Coast. Titusville ends the season with a 9-9 record.
District 6-4A Tournament
(2) Satellite def. (3) New Smyrna Beach 3-0 (29-27, 25-8, 25-21)
In a potential state playoff preview, Satellite swept New Smyrna Beach to reach a district final for the fourth consecutive season.
The Scorpions will play at top-seed Bishop Moore on Oct. 16. Bishop Moore swept Satellite in the first match of the season on Aug. 18.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Space Coast beats Astronaut in 5 sets to advance to district final