P.K. Yonge volleyball advanced to the 2A-District 3 tournament semifinals after overthrowing Interlachen 3-1 (25-12, 26-24, 27-29, 25-12) in the quarterfinals Tuesday. 

Three seed P.K. Yonge (12-8) plays at two seed Oak Hall (21-2) at 6 p.m. today for the right to advance to the finals at 7 p.m. Thursday against the winner of tonight’s other semifinal between four seed St. Augustine St. Joseph Academy (13-10) and top seed Ocala Trinity Catholic (19-5).

Oak Hall, which won the tourney last season, swept seven seed Daytona Beach Father Lopez (6-18) in Tuesday’s other quarterfinals.

“I kept reminding the players to play to win, don’t play for them to lose,” P.K. Yonge coach Chancie Vice said. “We want to go and earn the win.”

 

P.K. Yonge dominated the first set, 25-12. 

Nina Bennett played lights out from the right side, commanding the offense with six kills and one block, posting seven points alone. 

Another standout was Ruby Hampton from the service line and outside with three kills and three aces. 

The Blue Wave started the first set strong with a kill from Alyson Huggins on the right side to take an early lead 2-1.

Six seed Interlachen (11-10) responded with a kill from middle blocker Mariayh Baker and another one by right side Baileigh Riddley to tie the set 3-3.

Hampton ended Interlachen’s comeback with a kill. She then put up an ace to give P.K. Yonge the lead again 5-3. Hampton took advantage of an Interlachen free ball to swing a kill and take the lead 10-9 after the third tie of the set.

Interlachen’s Camryn Link served an ace to take the lead 11-10. 

After an ace from Camryn Link, Interlachen led 11-10. P.K. Yonge middle blocker Jaylee Fugate tied the set back up 11-11 with her first kill of the night. 

Bennett then took over P.K. Yonge’s front row with three kills for points 16, 17 and 18. Her attacks were supported by another ace by Hampton, 19-12.

Following several Interlachen unforced errors, Bennett tallied two more kills to put P.K. Yonge up at 22-12. She switched things up with a block for point 23, but went back to a tried-and-true kill for point 24. 

“The energy with my team was what was helping me the most,” Bennett said. “When we’re hype, and when we’re emotionally together, we do great.”

Hampton then ended the first set with another ace.

The second set ended in a close 26-24 after the Blue Wave and Rams battled back-and-forth near the end with P.K. Yonge coming out on top.

Notably, right side hitter Alyson Huggins scored three kills and Bennett had four.

Hampton put down a kill before two back-to-back aces for points five and six, as P.K. Yonge led 6-3. 

After a few defensive errors from the Blue Wave, Bennett and Huggins both swung another kill each to maintain the lead 10-6.

Interlachen middle blocker Ruby McCall scored a kill, but the glory didn’t last long. McCall served to a hungry Charlotte Reichardt and Attalie Odom. Reichardt set up Odom on the outside for a kill, and P.K. Yonge took the next serve 11-7.

Repeated hitting errors eventually pushed Interlachen into the lead, 16-14, before two consecutive kills by Bennett tied the set at 16.

By the end of the second set, the teams were going point-by-point.

An ace by Riddley gave the ball to Interlachen, 18-16, but she served out on the next point, giving the ball back to P.K. Yonge. Fugate took the opportunity with an ace to tie the set at 18.

Odom and Huggins both tallied another kill each, before Interlachen’s Harmonie Strauser served an ace, for 23-20 Interlachen.

Hampton helped tighten things back up with a kill, and P.K. Yonge’s libero Ariana Merricks served her first ace of the night to tie the set once again, 23 all.

Two missed serves led to Bennett swinging another kill to take the lead back 25-21 before Fugate served for the final point, 26-24.

Interlachen won the third set 29-27. Vice said the loss was due to lost confidence by her front row. 

“I think that we were getting tired and playing through the motions instead of playing to execute,” Vice said. “I think we broke down in a lot of areas and compounded our errors.”

Yet, the P.K. Yonge’s offense was still the highlight of the third set. 

Middle blocker Jada Adderly scored the first point with a block, and Merricks followed suit with an ace and served the team to 5-0 before a defensive mistake by Hampton.

However, Hampton quickly made it up with a line swing for the kill from the right side, 6-1. 

Later, a dig by Merricks to setter Charlotte Reichardt set Odom up for another kill, 12-8 P.K. Yonge.

P.K. Yonge started to lose its lead at 23-16 when McCall swung a kill and Interlachen’s Ivey Kalfs served an ace.

With repeated hitting errors, P.K. Yonge allowed Interlachen to close the gap for the win, 29-27.

Yet, the Blue Wave came back for another clear victory against the Rams, 25-12 to end the match.

Odom had five aces and two kills in the fourth set. She was backed by Hampton and Bennett who each posted six and three kills, respectively. 

P.K. Yonge maintained the lead for the duration of the final set. A key moment for P.K. Yonge’s momentum occurred when a service error by Interlachen gave Hampton room to work, and she took her opportunity and then some. She served three consecutive aces to give P.K. Yonge the lead 11-8. 

P.K. Yonge also scored two consecutive blocks by Bennett and Adderly for points 13 and 14. 

Odom served two aces to break away P.K. Yonge’s lead 20-11. Hampton nailed two more kills and Odom scored another ace before a hitting error gave Interlachen the ball at 24-12.

Hampton quickly wrapped up the night with one last kill to win the set 25-12.

“I am so glad we get to go to Oak Hall tomorrow and play our butts off,” Bennett said.