State Volleyball: Legacy claims 4A runner-up trophy in second season
· Yahoo Sports
WINTER HAVEN — Seconds after her program received its silver medals, Legacy High School girls volleyball head coach Christy Quigley called her team over for one last huddle.
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Most of the Lions players had tears streaming down their faces while their opponent, Bishop Moore, celebrated as the newly crowned Class 4A state champions on the other side of the floor.
As Queen's "We Are the Champions" blared over the speakers inside the Winter Haven Health Center for the Hornets, Quigley was adamant about delivering one final message: Enjoy this moment.
"I told them that they had to be proud," Quigley said. "We're a second-year school. We're not supposed to be here, but we're here. So as tough as it is to lose, we actually made it here."
Legacy finished as the Class 4A runner-up after falling in three sets to Bishop Moore in the state title match Saturday morning at Polk State College. Set scores were 25-16, 25-21 and 25-17 in favor of the Hornets, who captured their eighth state championship and second in the past three years.
Bishop Moore (25-7) was the top seed in the Class 4A state bracket while the Lions (25-8) were seeded third. Legacy was unable to pull off the upset against the classification's top-ranked team as it did in thrilling fashion against No. 2 Fleming Island two days earlier. But after the sting of defeat began to fade, the players were able to put their accomplishment in perspective.
"I'm so proud of us," Legacy senior setter Meredith Prince said. "I know how hard we worked every single day, not just working on our physical game, but our mental game. I wish it showed more in this game, but I'm just proud of how far we've come."
The Hornets opened an 11-4 lead early in the first set following an 8-1 run. Legacy closed to within 15-11 after a Prince block and later cut the deficit to 17-13, but struggled to stay in system while trying to dig powerful attacks from Alexandria White and Taryn Lambert and handle serves from White, who recorded three aces.
Miscommunications in the back row led to several Bishop Moore free balls.
"I don't think we could get our stuff going," Quigley said. "We did not win the serve-receive battle. Our serve receive affected our sets, and we were very predictable at times."
The second set was the most competitive of the match as the Lions made a midset charge when Bailey Johanson was reinserted. The senior middle blocker recorded a kill and hammered down a free ball to close the gap to 16-15.
Kills from senior hitters Taylor Smith and Sophia Spychalla got Legacy within 20-19 before it surrendered the next three points, including a controversial call when a Hornets attack was ruled touched by a Lions player. It appeared to bounce off the net before landing out of bounds.
"We serve-received a little bit better there than we did in the first set. We went out there with the mindset that this is the set we needed to win," Quigley said. "I feel like we had a couple calls go against us that probably shouldn't have, but it kind of affected us in a way that I didn't think it would."
In the final set, Bishop Moore used a 7-2 run to open a 17-10 advantage, leading to the Lions' final timeout. The Hornets stretched the lead to as many as 11 points before a White kill ended the match.
White finished with a match-high 12 kills while Lambert added nine.
Smith and Spychalla posted 10 kills apiece for Legacy. Junior libero Paisley Woods added a team-high 13 digs, while junior outside hitter Lyla Barker-Bray contributed 12 digs. Prince finished with 24 assists and 11 digs.
This story will be updated.
Patrick Bernadeau is a sports reporter for Treasure Coast Newspapers. He can be reached at 772-985-9692, on X at @PatBernadeau or via email at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: State Volleyball: Legacy claims 4A runner-up trophy in second season