The Girls Volleyball Team had a record-breaking season, recording the best statistical and record season in Gulf Breeze High School’s history with a 30-2 seasonal record and 7-0 record in the districts. With the unprecedented run culminating in a state 6a volleyball championship appearance.
After a long regular season, only losing one game to Chiles, the season all came down to a regional playoff match against Oviedo to qualify for the state championship. The match started with Gulf Breeze going two sets to one. With their backs against the wall, the Dolphins rallied together to go on a run and narrowly edged Oviedo in the last set with a score of 18-16, sending them to the state championship, in a game with multiple questionable calls.
This came after a tough set of regional matches against Fletcher High School, Pace High School, and the aforementioned Oviedo High School to set them up in a match against Dwyer High School from Palm Beach Gardens in the state semi-finals round. The Dolphins breezed past Oviedo, sweeping them 3-0 with dominant another dominant performance from standouts Bella Satterwhite, Sydney Sutter, Lexi Pannunzio, Estelle Reese, and Sienna Wnetrzak who each respectively tallied 6 or more kills in the match.
After securing the quick win in the semi-finals, Gulf Breeze advanced again to face against the 2nd seed St. Thomas Aquinas at the 6a state championship. In the championship match, D1 commit Bella Satterwhite dominated the opponent with a jaw-dropping 29 kills during the match, with Sydney Sutter recording a further 12 kills.
These dominant performances propelled Gulf Breeze to keep up with the best competition in the state, as they traded the first four sets going into the final set. In the final set, the game was kept very close; however, an extremely controversial call by the referee gave the game point to St. Thomas Aquinas as the score in the fifth set was 14-16, a heartbreaking end to an amazing season.
Despite the sad ending to the season, many amazing things happened throughout the year, with multiple students committing to compete at the next level for volleyball as well as multiple up-incoming underclassmen who have proved major importance to the squad. Even though the team may have sustained the loss in the championship, the outlook and skill of the team is immeasurable, and the potential for the team in coming years is equally as high.
