The King’s Academy girls varsity volleyball team pursued and accomplished a series of goals since the season got underway back on Aug. 20 when the Lions swept St. John Paul II Academy in three straight sets (25-13, 25-18, 25-23). Since then, the squad produced a winning regular-season record, won its fifth straight Class 3A District 12 title (the 21st in school history) and won 12 straight contests entering its Florida High School Athletic Association Region 3 semifinal clash in Tampa on Saturday, Oct. 26 against Berkeley Prep.
In that match, TKA played well, but not well enough. Berkeley Prep prevailed in three close straight sets (25-23, 27-25, 25-23). With that loss, TKA finished the season, having reached the “Sweet 16” of the Class 3A state playoff series, with an impressive 18-5 record.
“It was an incredibly close match,” head coach Bethany Avila said. “We were up 16-11 in the first and second set, and up 17-16 in the third, so they were the type of sets where afterward, we felt, like, wait, what just happened? We were winning for the majority of the game.”
In that match, TKA outhit and out-served Berkeley Prep. The Lions had 5.5 blocks per set, and Berkeley Prep had six. However, their opponents just slightly outplayed them.
“So overall, I was so proud of my team for how they all played, especially without our best server and outside hitter 2, Miranda Knoll, who had a procedure done and was unable to join us the past few games,” Avila said. “Ava Maldonado stepped up in the outside hitter spot in a huge way and had 10 kills and hit .333 against Berkeley Prep. We are so sad to be done, but so proud of how we fought.”
The two games prior to the match against Berkeley Prep were two of the best, most competitive games of the year for TKA.
The Class 3A, District 12 final on Thursday, Oct. 17, which also served as senior night, against Cardinal Newman took five sets, with TKA winning the fifth set, 15-7. In that game, senior outside hitter Kelly Kinney played like the University of Minnesota-commit that she is and led by example. She had a season-high 31 kills and 20 digs.
On Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the Class 3A, Region 3 quarterfinal, the Lions hosted the Academy of Holy Names. After dropping the first set 25-16, TKA rallied and won the next three sets (25-20, 25-22 and 25-15). In that game, Kinney had 20 kills while teammates Bella Pons and Mikayla Matuszko both had seven kills.
According to Avila, the real success story behind the win over the Academy of Holy Names can be attributed to great bench strength.
“We had two injured players, and one who was very ill. All three players were starters,” Avila said. “Our five seniors stepped up to lead us to the win — especially back-up setter Vale Diaz, who led us in assists. Senior Hailey Adkins came off the bench and played stellar in the middle back. Alanis Molina led our serving with 24 total serves with only two errors.”
Finally, on the bright side, eighth grader Matuszko has been invited to train with the National Team Development Program (NTDP-USA Volleyball) for their winter session. “We are so excited for her!” Avila said.
