NICEVILLE — Niceville volleyball likes to pride itself on being "18-deep."
Six on the floor. Eight on the bench. Four more on the practice squad.
Dani Puri's contributions off the bench personified that motto in Saturday's Region 1-5A semifinal win, with Karson Jessup's crew leaning on a mix of depth and star power to celebrate a 25-18, 20-25, 25-13, 21-25, 15-9 marathon over seventh-seeded Gainesville and advance to its first Elite 8 since 2020.
"Eighteen people deep," Niceville senior setter Carnley Summerlin reiterated. "We have 18 people practicing with us and every one of those people contributed in this win."
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Puri delivered the dig of the match on Jorryn Dye with Niceville clinging to an 8-7 lead in the fifth set and served up a 6-0 run, fourth ace of the match included, to give the Eagles a 13-7 cushion on its way to a 15-9 win.
"She sacrifices her body in every point she plays and she's falling everywhere," Jessup said. "I couldn't be more proud of her."
You can't talk about the win without Summerlin, who delivered 40 assists, seven kills, a number of crucial digs in the fifth set and the game-winning ace, her third of the match.
"Carnley is our captain, our leader out there," outside hitter Riley Skowronski said. "It was fitting that she had that ace to advance us on."
Also pivotal were the contributions of two middle hitters towering above 6-foot in Anna Sutter and Katherine Newkirk, the former delivering 10 kills and the latter adding two clutch blocks and a pair of kills in the fifth set.
"We believe in ourselves and we believe in each other," Newkirk said. "We're with each other pretty much every day and these are my sisters, my family and I love them to death."
"This year we're all so aggressive and so vocal in what we want," Sutter added. "It's crazy, this win, but this is also where we knew we'd be."
Sticking to defense, Shelby Plasier and Aprille Trotter (four aces) were everywhere all at once, sacrificing their bodies to set up Carnley's feeds to her big hitters.
And on the outside, Kate Jannazo had a team-best 15 kills, Riley Skowronski added 11 and Abby Swierzbin contributed seven.
"The whole program is deep," Jannazo said. "We work so hard and we connect so well, and this validates coming together with the same goal."
Now the Eagles are set to host fourth-seeded Middleburg Wednesday at 7 p.m. for a spot in the Final 4, a place they haven't been since 2010.
"It's exciting," Jessup said. "They're doing all the work, and they're not learning anything new. We're trying to stick to what we know, perfect that and it's exciting that they're buying into the process."
The process that requires contributions from everyone.
"This team is 18 deep and we've kept that saying pretty much the entire year," Newkirk said. "Every player has their heart and soul into this and that's probably what makes us such a great team. We're playing for each other."
"I feel like our team is so strong and so connected this year," Jannazo echoed. "I feel like we can make it all the way."
This article originally appeared on Northwest Florida Daily News: Niceville volleyball rides '18-deep' to 3-2 Sweet 16 win over Gainesville