This season included all-time best rankings in the national polls, a record of 38-4, winning the Suncoast Conference Championship, a birth in the national tournament, the college’s first state title since 2006 as well as several individual accolades to players.

  Another big accomplishment for this team was the 300th win of Head Coach Gary Larkin during this state tournament and national title bid chase.

  He recalls how it all unfolded, “We started out by playing our rival Polk, which we had seen three times before and had won all three, so it’s challenging to beat someone four times in a row. Both teams know each other really well and get along really well, but we were able to come out and we swept them, so that gave us a break until the next day.”

  The next day brought back another familiar foe. Next, “we had to play State College of Florida Manatee who advanced up to play us in a game, where yet again we were against another Suncoast Conference rival that we’d seen at least twice before, so we would have to beat them a third time in a row. They were playing good volleyball at the time. We were able to sweep them as well. It was a tough match. The girls stepped up,” the coach adds.

  This gave the team a big advantage.

  “Essentially by winning the first two matches you put yourself in a very enviable position, because whoever would have to play us would have to beat us twice. So we had two shots at them so to speak. You don’t want to lose the first, but if you do you have another shot, because it’s double elimination,” the coach said.

  When it came to Florida State College of Jacksonville, the heat was on. “We dropped the first set. We actually blew a 16-13 lead. They made a little run and closed us out, but we were able to win set two, three and four strongly. We won set four comfortably to win the bid,” he said.

  “So we came out and played Central Florida and we had seen them three times in a row already, and we had won twice and lost once to them, and we had flip flopped back and forth, and we go into set five 2-2. There two best players were playing very well. Mariam played extremely well everyone was contributing.”

  The team effort paid off, “We went into game five and we came out aggressive and we blocked balls, we took hard swings and we came out with the right attitude. Played with a little lead through most of the set and closed them out 15-12 to win the state championship,” he adds.

  After the tournament, members of the team were recognized for their hard work. Mariam Maldonado was named MVP of the tournament, she had a fantastic tournament. Andy Tauai, Nicole Higgins and Antia Rodriguez-Sanchez made the All tournament. At the banquet before the tournament, they named the All-State team. Andy Tauai and Shelby Walker were named to the team.

  Larkin added, “This teams great and they really understand that the prizes are the team prizes and those are the wins, the championships and the advancing. They don’t get caught up in what
they win, or don’t win. It’s certainly great icing on the cake. They were really focused on their goals this year. I think when you know where you are going you often get there.”