P.K. Yonge Advances To Second Straight District Championship Match

STARKE — The P.K. Yonge Blue Wave are on their way to a second straight volleyball district championship appearance after sweeping the Crescent City Raiders (25-6, 25-12, 25-13) in the semifinal matchup of the Class 3A District 3 tournament Tuesday night. 

Hot Start 

Fresh from their first-round bye Monday, the Blue Wave (11-9) came out with a burst of energy in the first set to jump to a 15-3 lead. Jorryn Dye led the way with three consecutive aces and a tip. 

The Blue Wave took control of the set from the serve spot with four different players recording aces, including multiple by Dye and Autumn James. 

Second Set Lag

A lack of communication led to early struggles in the passing game for the Blue Wave as the Raiders (9-13) capitalized off their mistakes and led 6-2 in the second set. 

The Blue Wave remained composed, cleaning up their passing game to set better attacks as they went on an 8-0 run to lead 13-7. Summer Mandrell then hit three consecutive aces late in the set to help secure the 25-12 second-set win. 

“If there is no communication in volleyball, there is no execution,” Trinity Jacobs said. “And that’s where we slacked in the second set. But then we picked it up, and communicated and that’s why you saw the resemblance.” 

Third-Set Turnaround 

The third set opened with the Blue Wave and Raiders exchanging scores, leading to a 5-all tie. 

The Blue Wave were able to reel off the momentum they built at the end of the second set and ran through better communication. James hit three kills followed by a pair of tips from Xyiah Moore to close out the third set and complete the sweep. 

Up Next 

The top-seeded Blue Wave will look to clean up their approach before facing second-seed Interlachen (15-4), which upset host Bradford 13-25, 25-21, 21-25, 26-24, 15-13 in Tuesday’s other tourney semifinal. Thursday’s title match is scheduled for 7 p.m. in Starke.

“We definitely want to clean up the unforced errors we’re making on our side of the net and I think once we can play clean volleyball from start to finish, we’re a pretty tough team to beat,” P.K. Yonge coach Enrique Wiseman said.