MERRITT ISLAND — For the second time in five days, No. 1 seed Merritt Island faced No. 8 Space Coast in a postseason match. The Mustangs, who swept the first two meetings this season, made it three in a row on Oct. 20 in the Class 3A, Region 2 quarterfinals in a 25-16, 25-18, 25-12 victory.
“We did some different things with the lineup and I feel like once we got settled in a little bit, things flowed pretty well. Lydia (Scott) and Bella (Becker) really carried us offensively and did an amazing job,” Merritt Island head coach Angie Patrick said. “We had some defense come in and Sadie (McClellan) and Whitney (Wisniewski) did a great job there for us. We got a lot more kids involved (tonight), not because we’re just trying things but because we needed them. I’m proud of the way they stepped up.”
Merritt Island pulled away in the second half of the first two sets before taking full control of the third set.
The first set was tied 9-9 before the Mustangs went on a 9-3 run that included two kills and one ace from senior Bella Becker and two kills from junior Lydia Scott.
Space Coast led the second set 7-6 before a 9-1 run propelled the momentum into the Mustangs’ favor. The run featured on a kill and two blocks from Scott and a kill and an ace from Becker.
“It was a hard-fought win,” Mustangs senior Reece Loggins said. “I think we came into with a lot of energy just knowing we had to get it done.”
Scott posted a double-double of 17 kills, 10 digs and five blocks. Becker finished with eight kills and four aces. Loggins produced six digs and received 17 serves for the most on the team.
“I take a lot of pride in (serve receive) because to stay in system, that’s basically the game,” Loggins said. “To do that, that’s just what you need to do.”
Loggins has been a steady presence in the back row for Merritt Island. She surpassed last year’s season total with 337 digs this fall. The senior has also received 578 serves.
“I think I’ve had a lot of ups and downs, but I think my confidence has stayed pretty even. I just need to keep that mindset going,” Loggins said. “My serve receive last year, I kind of got the hang of it but my defense is what I’ve keying on this past few weeks.”
Merritt Island provided some of its more inexperienced players some important state playoff action. In the attack, junior Gena Walters tallied six kills and junior Ella Daniels finished with five kills. Seniors Sadie McClellan and Whitney Wisniewski combined for 15 digs.
“I think it’s definitely important and that’s also why you pull kids up just to have that experience and see what that’s like and what the nerves and what the environment is like,” Patrick said. “I think that’s always a great thing when you can do that.”
Merritt Island advances to the regional semifinals where it’ll host the No. 4 seed Lake Highland Prep on Oct. 24. The Mustangs defeated the Highlanders in four sets on Sept. 30.
“I think we’re just ready to win it all,” Loggins said. “We want to go out and do it. We’re ready for it.”
It’s the end of the road for Space Coast after suffering its third straight-set defeat to Merritt Island.
“We started off a lot stronger. The game plan was working early. We kind of got away from what we wanted to do,” Space Coast head coach Jay Penn said. “We were trying to serve deep balls all night, but kind of got away from it. I think Loggins got way too many serves to her. When she gets involved, they’re going to be in system. We’re young. They’ll learn from their mistakes.”
The Vipers were led one more time by seniors Ava Keller and Isabella Taylor. Keller recorded nine kills, two blocks and two aces. Taylor ended the match with nine kills and one block.
“I love Ava (Keller) to death. I worked with Ava in the community centers in Cocoa. This is the first year I’ve ever had to actually coach her for high school. Bella (Taylor) four years ago was a competitive cheerleader,” Penn said. “Nobody knew who she was. Then three years ago, she’s lighting things up. She’s always been underrated because of her size. You can overlook players like that all you want, but when their heart is bigger than some of these other girls, it’s going to show.”
Space Coast finished the season 14-12. The Vipers increased their win total by six this year and posted their most wins in a single season in five years. They'll graduate five seniors in Keller, Taylor, Shelby White, Cecilia Stacer, Adrianna Livingston and junior Gwen Cotham.
“Much better (season). Going into last season, I thought we had a really good team and we did the same thing kind of this year as we did last year,” Penn said. “We were just able to put some of those close matches away this year that we couldn’t do last year. It’s a good group of girls.”
Oct. 20 scores
Class 3A, Region 2
(2) Academy of the Holy Names def. (7) Astronaut 3-0
Astronaut suffered a season-ending defeat in Tampa at Academy of the Holy Names. The War Eagles finished the season with a 14-11 record in their second-straight state playoff appearance.
They graduate six seniors in Jojo Demers, Ava Law, Lesleigh Amos, Kiya Randall, Ava Hagood and Kylee Barber.
Class 2A, Region 2
(1) Northside Christian def. (8) Holy Trinity 3-0 (25-17, 25-16, 25-22)
Holy Trinity’s season ends in St. Petersburg to the hands of top seed Northside Christian. The Tigers finish the season 11-15 and they’ll graduate four seniors in Gracin Borboroglu, Taylor Yochim, Brooke Ellingson and Kilee Whyte.
Class 1A, Region 2
(2) Brevard HEAT def. (7) Orlando Christian Prep 3-1 (25-8, 25-22, 26-28, 25-16)
Brevard HEAT leaned on its defense to fend off Orlando Christian Prep and advance in the state playoffs. Six Firehawks posted double-digit digs led by senior Haley Cowling’s 27 digs. Senior Audrey Koubek tallied 17 digs to go with three aces.
Brevard HEAT seniors Anna Livengood and Aine Hanley and junior Kianne Amelunge recorded double-doubles. Livengood finished with 16 assists and 16 digs, Hanley recorded 10 kills and 11 digs and Amelunge ended with 14 assists and 11 digs.
In the attack, sophomore Charis Bennett spiked 14 kills. Junior Brooklynn Elder tallied seven kills.
(6) Merritt Island Christian def. (3) International Community 3-1 (25-16, 25-22, 14-25, 25-21)
The Cougars pulled off the lone upset in Class 1A, Region 2 as they traveled to Winter Park and took down International Community in four sets. They advanced to the regional semifinals for the third time in four years.
Merritt Island Christian will head to Brevard HEAT on Oct. 24 for the regional semifinals. The Firehawks won the first three meetings, including in the district semifinals on Oct. 13. It’ll be the first state playoff meeting since 2023.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Merritt Island sweeps Space Coast to advance to regional semifinals