Volleyball: Navarre locks up top seed

By JARED MACARIN

jaredm@nwfdailynews.com

NAVARRE — Navarre coach Shelley Bradford doesn’t like to put any district contest above another.

But a win against rival Gulf Breeze on Tuesday would mean the regular-season title and the top seed for the District 1-4A tournament.

It wasn’t easy, and they knew it wouldn’t be, but the Raiders managed to scrape by to win the crucial match in five games.

“The kids fought hard and we just try to play team volleyball,” Bradford said. “It was a huge win. We are still struggling with consistency on defense, but our heart has never been in question.”

Navarre (18-2, 8-1 district) won the first, third and fifth games to take the match, but the Raiders had to battle from behind in nearly every game except the initial one. In the opening game, Navarre raced in front behind three aces by Sarah Augustin and never looked back. Gulf Breeze (10-5, 7-2) got within two points as late as 19-17, but could not stay with the hosts as the game closed out 25-17.

The Dolphins, however, struck back in the second by coming out strong and taking control early. The margin grew to eight points at various times, and a late rally by the Raiders was stifled as the visitors took the game 25-18.

The turning point came in the third game, when Navarre rallied from numerous deficits to pull out a 26-24 win. Down 24-20 and facing game point, the Raiders scored the final six points to grab a 2-1 lead in the match. Juli Haun had five kills in the game, while Shawney Severns’ two kills late helped spark the comeback.

‘Their ability to play as a team when we needed to really helps,” Bradford said.

The fourth game looked much like the second, with the Dolphins securing the advantage in the opening moments and running away with it. Celia Eddy had four kills, two blocks and three aces as the Dolphins won 25-12 to send the match into a fifth game.

In the rubber game, neither team had a lead of more than two points — the final lead for the Raiders came on the final point that made it 15-13 and sent the team and crowd into a frenzy.

Augustin finished with 33 assists, 12 digs and six aces to pace the Raiders, while Haun had 14 kills and 16 digs. Demetra Giblin had nine kills, while Roxanne Salomone had six and both Jenna Brown and Whitney Fischer contributed five.

The Raiders still have one last district match on Thursday at West Florida, and Bradford is not going to let up just because the top seed for the tournament is already in hand.

“We still have work to do,” she said. “We just have to play volleyball no matter who is on the other side of the court. Every district match is important.”

Navarre 3, Gulf Breeze 2

Scores: 25-17, 18-25, 26-24, 12-25, 15-13

Navarre (18-2, 8-1 District 1-4A): Sarah Augustin 33 assists, 12 digs, 3 kills, 6 aces; Roxanne Salomone 2 assists, 7 digs, 6 kills; Demetra Giblin 1 dig, 2 blocks, 9 kills; Whitney Fischer 13 digs, 5 kills, 5 aces; Juli Haun 16 digs, 14 kills, 3 aces; Jenna Brown 2 digs, 5 kills; Stevie Decker 11 digs; Bridget McElvain 2 digs; Shawney Severns 1 dig, 1 block, 2 kills; Mildred Wilson 6 digs; Brianna Kastner 8 digs.

JV: Gulf Breeze won

Next: Navarre: Thursday at West Florida