WINTER HAVEN - Fleming Island and Middleburg highs both traveled to the state volleyball semifinals and put up massive efforts, but in the end, both fell 3-2 on Thursday, Nov. 5.

Fleming Island faced off first against Legacy, just a two-year old program. Legacy eventually lost to Bishop Moore in Class 4A on Saturday, 3-0.

"Tough game, tougher loss," said Fleming Island coach Amy Yoder. "I think both teams wanted it so bad and unfortunately we fell short. We will be back in that arena shortly."

Middleburg had a shot to win a second state title in three years for coach Meredith Forkum. The Broncos journey to the Class 5A Final Four came with as much dramatics as with back-to-back 3-2 contests - one a come-from-way behind region championship win over Niceville after an explosive 3-1 region semifinal win over Ponte Vedra.

Against Charlotte, Middleburg traded blows with Charlotte's wicked strong senior outside hitter Sammy Vega and her near 400 kills for the season with the Broncos tallying sophomore sensation Katelyn Laezza and senior outside hitter Maysie Bader.

"Charlotte was a defensively solid team and the lefty was hard to stop," said Forkum.

The Broncos won Game 1 25-19, but the two teams continued to assail the net back and forth with Charlotte taking Game 2 25-18, then Middleburg in Game 3 25-21, Game 4 to Charlotte 23-25 and the finale to Charlotte 13-15. Charlotte would eventually win the Class 5A title with another 3-2 win, this one over Archbishop McCarthy, the top seed and last year's state runner-up to two time champion Tallahassee Chiles.

"It was a good match for us but not our best," said Forkum. "We struggled to execute and finish when we needed to."

Laezza and Bader combined for 40 of the Broncos 57 scoring kills with Bader hitting three bombs in the fifth game as well as a diving save by Laezza on the back defensive line that Bader smashed a twisting shot to the Charlotte back corner with Middleburg up 7-5 after a 3-0 opening salvo. The Broncos got to a 5-1 gap in Game 5 before Vega answered and Charlotte server and libero Ragan Davis got the Fighting Tarpons back in the game with strings of four, three and a devastating 10-0 run to score the game at 8-14 before Middleburg would score a ninth point.

In the final tense finish, Middleburg fought back behind solid serves from freshman Reese Forkum and a smach from Laezza to 12-14. A final shot by Charlotte's Dakota Galley was blocked but landed out of bounds to end the match.

Middleburg was torrid above the net with blocks with sophomore Abigail Grybb smacking down six and Bader and Sophia Butler each handling four. Amelia Cobb and Allie Anschuetz shared assists with 24 and 22, respectively. Bader was as busy as Forkum on the back line with 26 digs for Forkum and 23 for Bader.

Fleming Island, in their first pressure cooker state semifinal, took a game one loss at 25-23 and rolled to two wins; 25-22 and 25-14, to look unbeatable behind extraordinary play above the net from senior Kaylee Clark who finished with 17 kills and five blocks with Fleming Island's one-two punch of Lauren Brosky and Lilly Eason combining for 31 kills; 13 and 18, respectively.

"Kaylee had a phenomenal game," said Yoder. "She helped keep the team’s spirits up in those low moments during the game and she really emerged as a leader."

In the pivotal fourth game, Fleming Island raced to a quick 5-1 lead with Brosky on fire at the net and also with a service ace. Eason would then come in and smash two as Legacy fought back to tie the game at 7-7, then take a lead off a three run surge to 8-10. Fleming Island got stuck at eight points as Legacy continued to surge to get to 8-16. Fleming Island would get as close as 16-23 behind two kills from Sadie Matthews and Brosky before Legacy finished the game with a kill shot blocked out and a final kill shot.

In Game 5, the dramatics increased 10-fold with a Shelby Jackson service ace opener and Clark exploding for four kills in the opening rounds to put Fleming Island up 6-2 before a block by Clark finished out of bounds to put Legacy on offense.

Legacy rattled off scoring runs of four and three points to tie the game at 7-7 before Amelya Spratley popped a kill to put Fleming Island up 8-7. Spratley would pop off another decisive kill to tie the game at 13-13 and cause Legacy to call a time out.

In the final run of seven match points that Fleming Island staved off, Zahaviah Sanders was getting into the mix with her timely soft touches over the net getting two ties at 15-15 and at 17-17.

"Personally I have played through 7-plus match points, and it’s not easy," said Yoder. "Trying to stay focused and disciplined in those moments is so important. I honestly just kept telling myself 'we have this. we want this'."

Legacy continued to get their one point edge, but Brosky got a smash to 19-19 before Legacy got two strikes to end the match.

Both teams had 11 service aces with Jackson and Addison Blom with three apiece for Fleming Island. Legacy only had seven blocks to Fleming Island's nine; five by Clark. Jackson finished with 31 assists with Moe Aseta adding 18.

FHSAA 3A, 4A Swimming and Diving

Stotler repeats as 200 free champion

Shoesmith posts two second-place finishes

By Randy Lefko,

randy@claytodayonline.com

OCALA - Fleming Island High junior Noah Stotler repeated as the 200 freestyle Class 3A champion on Friday, Nov. 6, with nearly a three-second gap to his closest chaser as the Fleming Island girls and boys swim teams both earned Top 10 team finishes at the FHSAA Class 3A swimming and diving championships held at the FAST facility in Ocala.

"I felt about as good as I could having had some kind of flu the past two weeks at districts and regions," said Stotler, who won at one minute, 36.08 seconds with silver medalist Cobe Hehenberger second at 1:38.74. "I just swam my race and let the race do what it did."

Also at the Class 3A championships, Orange Park finished with 14 points in boy's behind Dakota Blake's eighth-place finish in the 100 backstroke and Zephan Leak's 11th-place finish in the 100 breaststroke plus a 10th in the 200 medley relay and a 12th in the 200 free relay.

Stotler won his first 200 free title last year for Clay High with a 1:36.74 timing.

Stotler then got the challenger of the day with a second place finish to Chiles Owen Ekk, the defending 100 freestyle and 200 Individual Medley champion, in the 100 free.

With an anticipated super fast race between the two swimmers, Ekk dipped into the 43 second range with a 43.79, with Stotler a stroke off at 44.11. Stotler dropped nearly a second to chase Ekk with a 44.94 in his prelim heat.

Ekk then took on Fleming Island's William Shoesmith in the 200 IM and won convincingly with a 1:43.62, with Shoesmith in second at 1:49.26.

In the 500 free, Shoesmith, the defending 500 free state champion, held an arm's length lead for much of his race with St. Petersburg High's Sawyer Hansen until Hansen unleased a final 50 yards at 24.93 seconds to edge Shoesmith at the well for the gold medal with a 4:22.09. Shoesmith opened with a 24.08 first 50, but finished with a 25.49 final 50 to earn silver at 4:22.79.

In the team scores for the boys, Fletcher won with 115 points, while Jesuit had 112 and St. Petersburg had 109. Fleming Island was ninth with 46.

For the girls, Ponte Vedra edged St. Petersburg 169-162 and  Fleming Island was seventh with 47.

Earning points for the Fleming Island girls was sophomore Ellie Strombeck with 11 with a 10th-place finish in the 100 butterfly and a 13th-place finish in the 200 free. Also, the girls finished sixth in the 400 free relay  and they were eighth in the 200 medley relay.

Jackson Strickland earned 7.5 team points with a 14th-place finish in the 100 butterfly and 10th-place finish in the 100 backstroke, a sixth in the boys 200 free and a third in the boys 400 free relay.

Rylan Mills earned five team points with his 12th-place finish in diving, and with Jake Hall earning two points earning two points earning two points with a 16th-place finish in the 200 and 500 frees.

In the girls, Fleming Island senior Kinsey Yarbrough earned five points with a 12th-place finish in 100 free plus relay finished, a fourth in the 200 free relay and a sixth in the 400 free relay. Sophomore Klara Shoesmith also earned five points with a 12th in 200 IM and relays. Sophomores Caroline Kuhl was 15th in the 50 free and Natalie Kendall 15th in the 200 IM. and relays.

In Class 4A, Oakleaf senior Brylee Wood was 24th in the 50 free in 25.69.