By Dave Brousseau - BCAA Writer
FORT LAUDERDALE – The St. Thomas Aquinas girls volleyball team inched a step closer to their eighth state championship in a very powerful way.
Mikayla Porter, Sydney Guerrier and Emmi Merhi combined for 24 of the Raiders 47 kills to cruise past South Plantation 25-7, 25-11, 25-12 in a Class 6A regional final on Wednesday.
The victory moved Aquinas a step closer to defending their state title and possible eighth over championship. They will face Land O’Lakes Sunlake (15-8) in a state semifinal match on Nov. 8 at Polk State College in Winter Haven at 10 a.m.
Should the Raiders advance they would face the winner of the Palm Beach Gardens Dwyer/Gulf Breeze winner. The championship match is set for Nov. 9 at 1 p.m.
“We were very offensive tonight, and everyone contributed,” said St. Thomas coach Lisa Zielinski. “The inside was strong and the outside was scoring. It wasn’t just one player. It was multiple players that were scoring.”
The victory was the third of the season against South Plantation, all in straight sets. Aquinas has won 10 consecutive matches against the Paladins (20-4) dating back to 2008, while losing just one set.
Overall, the Raiders have outscored the Paladins 25-2 in sets won.
The Paladins hung tough down two sets to none, trailing 11-6 and 20-12 in the third set before the Raiders closed out the match with five straight points that included a Porter kill to seal the victory.
“Our front row is very aggressive,” said Porter. “That’s one thing we have and other teams know. We’re all such a good team with such good players. We come together do get it done.”
St. Thomas was clearly the better team from the onset.
The ended the first set on a 12-2 run with Porter’s deciding kill.
An indication of how one-sided the regional final was, is the Paladins’ longest point streak was held to three, but not until Aquinas led 20-9 in the third set.
Overall, the Raiders had all the right moves to a clear victory.
Senior outside hitter Tameary Wardlaw had eight digs and Makia Brooks had six digs along with her match high 17 assists.
Dave Brousseau can be reached on X at @dbrouss76 – or via e-mail at:
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