volleyball

Clay County High School Cross Country Championships

Fleming Island Little League begins

Ridgeview High Girls Volleyball

With an overall record of 12-15 heading into Wednesday night's regional quarterfinal volleyball match against 22-8 Stanton, Middleburg was seemingly in for a tight battle.

But three turned out to be the only number that really mattered, as the Lady Broncos took three-straight from the Lady Devils (25-23, 25-20, 25-16) to set up Tuesday's home regional semifinal game against the winner of Wednesday night's Bishop Kenny-Santa Fe contest.

The Broncos have beaten Santa Fe three times this season, including the District 3-4A championship game last week. Bishop Kenny beat Middleburg back on Sept. 20.

(See photo gallery on Spotted)

Fleming Island surged out to a 17-3 first-game lead in the District 3-5A tournament championship Thursday night, but it was Bartram Trail's fifth-game surge that gave the Bears the title and a first-round state playoff game next week.

The Golden Eagles will get the district runner-up playoff spot and will have to win on the road next week if they want to move up the state ladder.

Thursday night's championship match looked like it might be over quick as the Lady Eagles won the first game handily, 25-10. And Fleming Island was strong throughout the second game, too, but the Bears rallied late for a 26-24 win to even the match.

Orange Park needed four games to defeat Fletcher in both of their regular-season volleyball match-ups, and up two games to none but trailing 18-12 in the third, it looked like the Lady Raiders were in for at least another four-set challenge Friday night in their District 1-6A semifinal game.

But Orange Park proceeded to shut down the Lady Senators and outscore them 13-2 the rest of the way, including a match-ending spike by senior Allison Riner, to win the contest, 25-11, 26-24, 25-20, and qualify for the state playoffs.

The victory also put OP in Friday's 6 p.m. championship final against the winner of Wednesday night's late match, Mandarin vs. top-seeded Gainesville Buchholz (20-5). The Lady Raiders lost twice this season to Buchholz, but Coach Amy Walker wasn't conceding the title to the Lady Bobcats.

(See related photo gallery on Spotted)

Middleburg's Lady Broncos square off against Santa Fe at 7 p.m. Thursday night for the District 3-4A volleyball championship.

The top-seeded Lady Broncos (11-15) defeated district-tournament host Baker County, 25-15, 30-28, 25-21, in Tuesday's semifinals to secure at least a second-place district finish, which includes a state playoff berth. But if they want to play that first playoff game at home against a lower-seeded opponent, they'll have to go through Santa Fe, a three-game winner over Ridgeview in Tuesday's earlier semifinal.