St. Thomas Aquinas repeats as 6A volleyball state champs

Winter Park comes back to prevail in 7A; Chiles wins 5A crown for its first state title

St. Thomas Aquinas players and coaches celebrate after winning the 2024 Class 6A girls volleyball state championship on Saturday at Polk State College in Winter Haven. / Bill Kemp

WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA – It wasn’t exactly rinse and repeat. It was more like going through the wringer.

St. Thomas Aquinas repeated as Class 6A girls volleyball state champions after five grueling-but-thrilling sets on Saturday at the FHSAA Finals at Polk State College.

The Raiders held off Gulf Breeze 25-23, 21-25, 25-17, 21-25 and 16-14 to capture their eighth state title in program history. 

“They have always done well in adverse situations, even on Friday when they were down by a point, in the game-point, and we were able to come back and win the (semifinal) match,” St. Thomas head coach Lisa Zielinski said. 

St. Thomas (22-7) was led by Laura Grubor with 27 kills and 20 digs. Additionally, senior setter Mikayla Porter posted 19 kills with 14 digs while senior outside hitter Zori Brown had 18 kills and 25 digs.

“They are very calm in these situations and they have experience in these situations. I don’t feel they were rattled when it was tight at the end of the fifth game.”

Porter said she kept looking at her teammates and shouting encouraging words to bring the victory home.

“It was very neck-and-neck, point after point, but their confidence on the court showed,” Porter said.

Zielinski has rolled up 916 wins, eight state championships, 16 regional titles and 33 district championships for St. Thomas over 37 seasons. 

Class 7A: Winter Park avenges last year’s title game loss to Tampa Plant

Winter Park took down defending state champion Tampa Plant in five thrilling sets to win the Class 7A girls volleyball state championship on Friday at the FHSAA state tournament at Polk State College. 

“I just told the girls in the huddle at the end of the match, this is the most well-played match we could have had, and this one ranks up there,” said Winter Park head coach Stephanie Gibson, now in her 40th season with the team. “It’s got to be the top title-game match we’ve ever played.”

Winter Park players celebrate after winning the Class 7A girls volleyball state championship on Saturday at Polk State College in Winter Haven. / Bill Kemp

Winter Park dropped the first set 18-25 but didn’t flinch and  eventually won three of the next four sets 25-21, 21-25, 25-17 and 16-14 to capture the 10th girls volleyball state title in the program’s history, all under Gibson.

“There was a lot of strategy involved, a lot of tactics in the match. (Plant) is just so difficult to defend, because of their offensive weapons, everywhere,” Gibson said. 

Winter Park was led by Emily Forness with 26 kills and 15 digs while junior Isabel Umpierre had 18 kills and nine digs. Junior outside hitter Amelia Mancino added 16 kills and 11 digs.

“You can’t deny how good (Plant) is. They are an amazing team but we came out on top today,” senior setter Tyler Peluso said.

Plant (22-1) swept Winter Park 3-0 this past year in the 7A state title game, but Winter Park (27-1) handed Plant its lone loss this season with a 3-2 win on Oct. 5. That couple with the state title game win, gave Winter Park double revenge. 

“I would say the kids were highly motivated,” Gibson said. “We set long term goals, but our goal is to get better every day. We needed to keep it on a game by game basis and not look too far in advance.

Class 5A: Chiles picks up first volleyball state title

Tallahassee Chiles won its first girls volleyball state championship with a 3-0 sweep over Miami Lourdes, Chiles, which was the state runners-up last year, won sets 25-21, 25-7, 25-16. 

“We had been in the regional finals match and lost several years in a row, and last year was our first year to the final four,”  said Chiles head coach Kaitlin Jahn, who has been coaching the program for 16 years.

“We had a lot of returners on this year’s team, a lot of them played in last year’s game in this arena before with this pressure before. So, it was nice to have a solid group of performers.”

Tallahassee Chiles poses with the first girls volleyball state championship trophy in the school's history after winning the Class 5A girls volleyball state championship on Saturday at Polk State College in Winter Haven. / Bill Kemp

Chiles was led by Anabelle Farrens with 28 kills and 21 digs. Additionally, Kate Stewart had 23 kills and 15 digs while Lindsay Smith posted 16 digs and 10 kills. Eva Goodson had 15 kills.

“Last year, we let our nerves get to us a little bit, so it was nice to come in here knowing what we didn’t want to do and playing this game just like it was a home game for us,” Jahn said. 

Lourdes was making its first appearance at the state tournament in program history.

“They were a tough team and they had so many hitters,” Lourdes head coach Pedro Penate said. “It was tough. We just tried to slow them down but we just didn’t execute tonight.”

Though Chiles was multitalented and multifaceted, Penate said the biggest obstacle wasn’t their size or depth but just dealing with Chile’s ball rotation.

“They passed really well. That made them really good hitters. The goal was to win the first game. We came in a little tight and it showed, and we missed a couple of balls we normally don’t miss. The wheels came off after that,” Penate said.

Lourdes was led by senior outside hitter Ella Garcia with five kills and one dig while senior Olivia Guzman had four kills and one dig.

“We obviously brought in a game plan, but I don’t think we executed it as well,” Guzman said. “But we did make history though we didn’t get the outcome we planned coming into here. But I am really proud of the way we played and I am really proud of this program.”