Glades County Knocks Out Hawthorne In Semifinal, Faces Host Williston

By Caroline King and TaylorAnn Eidam

WILLISTON — The Glades Day Gators swept the Hawthorne Hornets in Tuesday night’s Class 1A District 8 volleyball tournament semifinal match. 

The Hornets finish their season at 4-11. The 8-12 Gators advance to the championship match game against the Williston Red Devils.

District Tournament

The Hornets entered the tournament as the three seed alongside Williston, Glades Day High School and Wildwood High School.

Gator Domination

The Gators dominated from the start, defeating the Hornets each set by an average margin of 16.3 points, 25-5, 25-10, 25-11. 

Contributing to the Gators’ domination was the explosive power of senior outside hitter Olivia Sanford, with nine kills and three aces.

Set one began with a 15-3 Gator run to make it difficult for the Hornets to bounce back. 

Set two introduced the impactful power of Hawthorne’s Maddie Gillians contributing six kills and three aces in the Hornet’s fight.

However, it wasn’t enough to stop the Gators’ 25-10 set win.

The Glades Day Gators take the second set 25- 10 against the Hawthorne Hornets.@ESPNGainesville #highschoolvolleyball pic.twitter.com/xO5PPYaTbS

— TaylorAnn Eidam (@EidamTaylorann) October 17, 2023

In set three, the Hornets saw their first lead in the beginning, 5-4, thanks to the two straight aces from Gillians. 

Later in the set, Olivia Sanford added two straight aces of her own to put the Gators up 15-10.

Despite the Hornet’s fight, the Gators finished set three, 25-11, on two straight kills from senior Timiaya Clark.

Senior Send Off

The Hornets graduate three seniors: Ashlynn Coleman, Synteria Williams and Chloe Feagle. All were leaders for the Hornet squad.

Up Next

The Gators move on to face host Williston (16-10) for the tourney championship at 7 p.m. Thursday.