Lady Broncos shape up with state-level week

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PONTE VEDRA - After spending a weekend in Gainesville battling to a Silver bracket team title at the NIKE Tournament of Champions, the Lady Broncos of Middleburg High, the defending Class 5A champion, took their game on the road for a week of power volleyball challenges with Ponte Vedra on Thursday, Lincoln on Friday and Chiles on Saturday.
"We know we have a big target on our backs as defending state champions," said Meredith Forkum, second-year coach for Middleburg. "The girls have learned to take setbacks in games and come back. This was a good test for us. Kate Lowery stepped up for us."
In the end, Forkum got a state champion-level effort against the Ponte Vedra High Sharks, unbeaten at the time, and geared up to take out the Broncos in front of their raucous home crowd, but a late surge of Shaq O'Neal-like thunderbolts from Kate Lowery at the net and a sterling Pistol Pete Maravich-like level of ball handling from setter Olivia Callipo, turned the tables on the Sharks for a 3-2 win after falling behind 2-1.
"When we fell behind, we knew we needed someone to step up and get us the momentum back," said Middleburg outside hitter Brooke Forkum, who finished with 16 scoring kills on the night. "Kate came on strong in games four and five and got the momentum back on our side."
As for the passing game for Middleburg coach Meredith Forkum, her go-to player has been Callipo all season with the quick-thinking middle player able to distribute greatly positioned shot arches to her three haymakers up above the net; Camden Rahn (13 Kills), Forkum (16 Kills) and Lowery (13 Kills), to offset Ponte Vedra's front line attackers; led by top hitter Paige Murphy, Ryan Murphy and Lily Keeley, who aptly challenged the atmosphere above the net.
"We started to break through in the latter games after adjusting to their blocks," said Meredith Forkum. "They got us a little off our game in the first couple of games, but Olivia saw openings and the hitters were finding the spots on the sideline to hit the floor. Olivia also had a great serving run in the fourth game to back up their front line."
The Sharks, with a region final loss last year to Chiles (3-0), came to their gym with a history of state titles; in 2017, 2019 and 2020, with a runnerup finish in 2016 and a Final Four in 2021.
Middleburg, in last year's region run to the state title, took Lincoln out in the region semifinal before bumping Ridgeview into the region final.
On Friday, the Broncos handled Lincoln (1-2 with a win over Maclay and a loss to Chiles), a 3-0 win with three straight 25-20 games with Forkum cashing in with 21 kills and Rahn with 11.
"We knew the weekend was coming after Ponte Vedra and the schedule would not get any easier," said Meredith Forkum. "We just needed to relax as much as we could and get mentally prepared for a tough weekend trip."
On Saturday, the Broncos faced off against a 6-1 Chiles team, ranked 12th in Florida and No. 1 in Class 5A with Middleburg No. 2; Ponte Vedra No. 4 as of Monday, September 9. Chiles's lone loss was to Class 6A No. 1 and unbeaten (13-0) Gulf Breeze in late August.
Against Chiles, Middleburg got the first punch in with a 25-23 win in game one, but the Timberwolves responded with three straight wins; 25-21, 25-20 and 25-18 for the battle-tested Broncos. Chiles got kill totals of 21 from senior Kate Stewart, a TCU commit, and 19 from junior Eva Goodson, twice the Big Bend Setter of the year, with Rahn getting 11 as the leader for the Broncos.
Middleburg, 10-3, continues their rugged schedule locally with a Thursday, September 12 game at Fleming Island (4-3) and a home game against Oakleaf (4-3) on September 19 before hosting Trinity Christian Academy on September 24. TCA is still led at the net by senior power-hitter Amari King, now with 83 kills in TCA's 3-6 record. Oakleaf was to face TCA on Monday, September 9.
Oakleaf is led by Gabrielle Humbles above the net with 33 scores leading the Knights with Joya Welch with 19 scores.
Fleming Island, with wins over Bishop Snyder and a tough 3-2 loss to Bishop Kenny has Ridgeview coming to Fleming Island, then Middleburg, then Trinity Christian to face their own gauntlet of rivals. Fleming Island has a kill team of Emily Topp with 60, Kaylee Kirkland with 61, Lillie Eason with 59 and Savannah Jackson with 42 scores to spread the power around like a Gatling gun for coach Amy Yoder. Setter Hazel Williams has been instrumental in keeping the ball moving for the Golden Eagles with 218 assists on the season.
For Ridgeview, rookie coach Jauhna Smith (2-4) has had some success with recent 3-1 and 3-2 losses to St. Johns Country Day School Trinity Christian Academy as Smith's grittiness on the court in her playing days has slowly become a part of the Panthers attack mode.
Seniors Katie Cole and Maddie Roach had the hot hands against King in the Trinity match with 21 and 13 kills, respectively. Smith has junior Kara Reed and senior Brooke Cameron beginning to assert themselves at the net and that can only help come late October.
Cole leads the Panther scoring with 65 kills with Roach and Cameron sneaking in with 39 and 35 apiece as wingmen for Cole. Should Smith get those three as consistent weapons, Ridgeview will be looking at Ridgeview very soon.
Clay is 1-6 with a new coach on the bench and a win over Keystone Heights, now 2-4.
Clay is led by junior Myla Barker with 43 kills with Gia Thornton adding 39 and two players at 25; Lillian Tamburello and Grace Brass.
At St. Johns Country Day School, coach Jenna Williams introduced her squad to elite level playing at the NIKE Tournament of Champions a week ago with hopes to improve on their 1-7 record with a handful of young players. The Spartan's lone win was a thriller 3-1 contest over Ridgeview with Brynn White hitting for 14 scores and Kendall Proffitt adding 11 more. St. Johns will entertain Fleming Island on September 26 in a unique battle of Clay County squads.