Santa Fe Volleyball Wins 9th Consecutive District Title
ALACHUA – Santa Fe High’s volleyball team owns the district tournaments after the Raiders won their ninth consecutive championship Thursday with the sweep of Newberry (25-12, 25-9, 25-10).
Santa Fe (23-3) started the 3A-District 4 tourney final hot with a 25-12 back-and-forth first set against Newberry (22-4).
“Our worry was after beating them so badly in set one that we would then lose. We are famous for winning a set and then losing the next because then it’s just natural,” Santa Fe coach Eric Marshall said.
Santa Fe continued its scoring momentum into the second set, where it got seven straight points, three of those from a fired-up Ajha Graddy after social media posts making fun of her team appeared on her feed.
“Ajha was upset by the social media posts because they talked about her teammates a little bit, and that bothered her,” Marshall said. “She was hitting the ball with a little more juice tonight.”
Graddy, ranked No. 38 in the nation with a .458 hitting percentage, led the Raiders with nine kills.
Santa Fe marked its territory, getting to a 4:1 ratio in scores until it became 16-5. Three of Newberry’s points were serving errors from Santa Fe.
The Raiders took the second set 25-9 after defensive errors from the Panthers.
Outside hitter Taylor Sembower held the Raiders’ ground with an immediate score in the third set, but with a palm carry and an ace from senior libero Karlee Noah, Santa Fe immediately took a three-point lead.
The Panthers struggled to fight in the Raiders’ den and the crowd put pressure on Newberry as it committed four service errors.
Eventually, Santa Fe had a nine-point lead and with back-to-back aces for freshman Holdyn Moore, it only grew. Continuous kills and defensive errors had Santa Fe at 20-5.
Newberry made an effort to stay in the set at 22-7 with a kill from senior Avery Shine, but it wasn’t enough.
Graddy put a stamp on the third set with a strong hit that Newberry couldn’t bump back over in under three touches.
The Raiders, ranked No. 9 in the state by Maxpreps, controlled the serve-and-pass game and are now returning to their ninth consecutive regional playoff run, and, what could become their first championship in the new FHSAA Open Division if they stay within the top eight teams in Florida.
Newberry, meanwhile, is hoping to get an at-large bid into the 3A state tourney. The brackets will be announced at 2 p.m. Sunday on the FHSAA YouTube channel.
“From here on out, you don’t get to play again if you lose. We have to focus,” Marshall said.
Category: High School Sports, Santa Fe High School, Volleyball
