Oak Hall Volleyball Advances To Regional Semifinals

The Oak Hall Eagles swept the visiting Jacksonville Providence School Stallions on Tuesday night to advance to Saturday’s Class 2A Regional Volleyball Semifinals.

Tight From Start

The regional quarterfinal match featured the Eagles, coming off a district championship title, and the Stallions, looking to bounce back from a loss to Trinity Christian Academy last Thursday.

While the home team defeated the Stallions (13-7) in straight sets (25-23, 25-18, 25-18), the score does not give the visitors justice. The fourth-seeded team showed off its athleticism and kept each set close against the five seed Eagles (17-2).

The first set was tied at 15 when the impeccable Stallion defense put up a blocking clinic, forcing the Eagles to drive the ball into the net.

The rest of the set continued to have a back-and-forth nature, but the Eagles prevailed to take a 1-0 set lead.

The second and third sets followed the same script, alternating leads with nearly every point.

Eagles senior Cassidy McDonald had amazing awareness from all positions on the court and helped her team pull away.

Acrobatic play by Eagles Cassidy McDonald to take set two. pic.twitter.com/3UoyHlTvW4

— Riley (@rileyorovitz) October 22, 2024

Learning Along Way

The Stallions’ strong effort was powered by juniors Isabela Lopez and Julianna Baskin. Baskin, listed at 6-foot-2, used her height to muster four blocks in the contest. Lopez proved to be the Stallions’ powerhouse with numerous kills across the court.

As the match progressed, the Eagles seemed to figure out how to control Lopez’s strength.

Oak Hall coach Perry McDonald said he was proud of his team for conquering the competition in front of them.

“That’s a good team on the other side of the net,” he said. “They probably had the more dominant attacking team and we were able to come through and get them uncomfortable and take them out of what they normally do.”

On All Cylinders

The win took a team effort. From the serves to kills, the Eagles came through in all aspects.

The Stallions’ strong defense and flashy offense was not enough to overcome the Gainesville team. Once again, Cassidy McDonald showed off her athletic ability and was backed by junior Haley Janes and sophomore Kendylle Bishop.

“It takes a village out there,” coach McDonald said. “We struggled on serve-receive in the first set. Those kids that were struggling were much better in sets two and three, which really helped stabilize us.”

Up Next

The Eagles will travel to face the Ocala Trinity Catholic Celtics (18-3) in the regional semifinals starting at 5 p.m. Saturday. A win would put Oak Hall in the regional final at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

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