ALACHUA — An electric five-set match between the Santa Fe Raiders and Gainesville High School Hurricanes ended in a 3-2 (23-25, 25-18, 25-13, 23-25, 16-14) Raiders win Monday night.

Having lost to Santa Fe twice already this season, Gainesville came in a different animal and the same beast. 

Gainesville (12-12) immediately set an intense tone in the Raiders’ gym with a thunderous hit from senior Kenzie Carter-Mitchell to get the first point of the set. Santa Fe racked up six points before Santa Fe coach Eric Marshall put a stop to the momentum with his first timeout. 

Santa Fe (19-3) went back to the set knowing it had to lock in. With a set of errors and violations, the Raiders were able to bounce back 11-11. 

Both teams were exchanging points, both coaches had to use all their timeouts. 

With the last timeout, Santa Fe was leading the set 21-20, but with wide outs and defensive errors, Gainesville took the lead and won the set.

Going into the second set, Santa Fe understood it was  facing an opponent that wanted to get revenge. The Raiders dominated quickly, getting the first three points and continuing a 3:1 ratio of points gained and lost. 

Gainesville continued to fight back with diving digs from freshman Presley Fullerton, but couldn’t contain Santa Fe’s Taylor Sembower and Ajha Graddy, the fourth leading player in Florida in hitting percentage.

Santa Fe led the set from the start and finished up 25-18.

The third set started on even footing with a kill from Gainesville and a responding kill from Santa Fe. That started a continuous exchange until Santa Fe’s middle blocker Emarie Carlisle had an explosive kill that the Raiders built momentum to score eight points and solidify a seven-point lead at 15-8. 

As soon as Santa Fe reached an eight-point lead, GHS coach Jerica Carter-Mitchell called a timeout in hopes of cancelling some of the Raiders’ momentum. 

Santa Fe didn’t stop. The Raiders eased through forcing defensive errors while scoring off aces and kills. After a final mishit from GHS, Santa Fe took the third set 25-13.

With two sets won, the Raiders walked into the fourth. 

“For us, we talked about it before we came out here, this team wants to beat you,”  Marshall said. “You beat them twice, you beat them really bad last time you played them. They have a lot of athletes, if they get the ball in their middle, they’re almost unstoppable.”

And Gainesville proved him right. 

Santa Fe started with a two-point lead and bounced with it until miscommunication in the back, wide hits from the front and service errors gave Gainesville the lead at 11-10. After continued errors, Gainesville held the lead with huge blocks from juniors Jacey Carter-Mitchell and Jorryn Dye. The teams traded points until Santa Fe came back when Gainesville hit long to knot the score at 20-20. 

Then, Sembower showed up with an ace to give Santa Fe the lead back 21-20. Right after, the Raiders had another defensive error, miscommunicating and hitting the net. Gainesville took it back and continued the stalemate. With another tradeoff, the teams found themselves at 23-23. 

GHS then won two competitive rallies when junior Jacey Carter-Mitchell made both points by killing it and forcing a defensive error. 

With the match tied 2-2, Santa Fe started the fifth quickly. An early kill from Graddy helped the Raiders build a 4-1 lead, and they continued pushing until they were up 7-4.

Then, Gainesville came back.

Dye delivered three kills as Gainesville scored four straight points to take an 8-7 lead. Santa Fe answered, and the teams continued trading points. Sembower tied it at 11-11 before Kenzie Carter-Mitchell responded with a kill, putting Gainesville ahead 12-11 and forcing a Santa Fe timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, Sembower had another huge hit that slipped past Gainesville’s block, tying it 12-12. Jacey Carter-Mitchell took the lead back, but Holdyn Moore answered with a powerful kill to make it 13-13. Dye responded with another kill, giving Gainesville match point at 14-13.

One point away, but Gainesville couldn’t finish.

A Gainesville service error tied the set 14-14. Then, a four-hit violation gave Santa Fe the lead and match point at 15-14. The Raiders finished it on the next rally, winning three straight points to take the fifth set 16-14 and the match 3-2.

Even with a win, Santa Fe walked away feeling uncomfortable.

“I’m a little nervous now. That’s not postseason play. We will get run out if we play like that in the postseason,” Marshall said. 

Santa Fe next stays at home for a 7 p.m. match today against The Rock Lions (8-8) seeking its seventh consecutive win.

“We play The Rock; who can play ball. So, we’re not going to get any letup. But watch the response,” Marshall said, “I’ll be interested to see what it looks like.”