The volleyball team will play for the state title for the second straight year, knocking off Leon High School (Tallahassee) three games to two for the second year as well.

The team, who were down two games to zero, stormed all the way back to win in a fifth game tiebreaker. Early on however, they found themselves down early, as Leon jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first game. It was all Leon for the first two games, winning them both by a score of 25-16, 25-20, respectively.

“In the first two games, we were just thinking about the other team, focusing on them and what they were doing. But we really haven’t done that all season. I think we changed it around when we realized that we needed to focus on us and what we are doing; that’s what clicked and got us to come back into the game,” Bailey Wilson, junior, said.

Coach Margeaux Sinibaldi made her adjustments, and the comeback was on. They answered quickly, winning the third game 25-20. And in the fourth game, craziness ensured.

The score was 25 apiece, meaning that it was a win-by-two situation. Leon found themselves up a point, and if they would have scored one more, they would’ve came away as champions. But they answered, and took the fourth game, 33-31.

“Having won the fourth set, we went into the fifth one knowing we were going to beat Leon. Ever since last season, we’ve won every fifth set we’ve played, and so Coach [Sinibaldi] asked us ‘What do we do in fifth sets’, and to which we all responded ‘Win!’,” Lexie Atlas, senior, said

In the fifth game tiebreaker, they jumped out to an early 7-3 lead, but Leon came back to tie it all up 7-7. With back and forth timeouts, Camryn Vogler, sophomore, delivered the final blow, and they took the game 15-11.

“Being down two games fired us up. We played our hearts out to fight and win the next two games. We gave everything we had and that is the best feeling ever. I can’t express how proud I am of our team and what we have done together,” Wilson said.

Up next for Sinibaldi and her team will be a rematch with St. Thomas Aquinas on Nov. 12, the same team who beat them 3-0 in last year’s state title contest.

“Last season was the first time we made it to the State Championship, so we didn’t know what to expect. Going back to the title game again this year, we know what’s ahead of us and we know how to prepare. We’re looking to win a state championship together,” Atlas said.