Clay County volleyball duo reaches final four. What about Beachside?

Beachside knew Wednesday night would make Jacksonville-area volleyball history.

Even if the ultimate result was out of their hands.

“They’re going to take pride in competing at a high level and playing well, so all the other stuff is really ancillary,” Beachside coach Austin Lanteigne said. “We can’t really control that.”

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In the first-ever Florida High School Athletic Association Open Division match in any sport to be played in Northeast Florida, Beachside did what it needed to do by beating Naples First Baptist 25-17, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18.

The FHSAA’s complicated tiebreaker scenario, however, kept the Oct. 28 match from feeling like a total victory.

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Despite winning two of three matches in the FHSAA’s inaugural super division, containing the eight highest-ranked programs in the association’s rating system, Beachside (26-4) appeared set to finish behind Clearwater Calvary Christian and Tampa Plant for the two state semifinal spots from the four-team round-robin Pool B.

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The Barracudas’ problem: Beachside beat Calvary Christian on Oct. 21, Plant beat Beachside on Oct. 24, and in the other pool match Wednesday, Calvary Christian beat Plant. Had Plant defeated Calvary Christian, Beachside would have progressed automatically in second place. Instead, all three ended 2-1, and the FHSAA’s tiebreaking criterion — total points allowed during the Open Division — looked set to leave the Barracudas out of the finals in Winter Haven.

Calvary Christian allowed 237 points in three matches, fewest among the trio, which under the formula would bring first place. Then, under the FHSAA’s most recently published tiebreaker — a topic that has been at the center of considerable confusion during the past week — Plant would edge out Beachside for second based on head-to-head.

The FHSAA has not yet posted an updated bracket or otherwise announced a resolution to the tiebreaker as of Wednesday night.

Whatever the FHSAA’s number-crunching, Beachside played like championship contenders for most of the way Wednesday. Rallying from an early 8-3 deficit, Beachside uncorked a 10-1 run behind freshman Nina Simanic to win the first. Middle blocker Leanna Deutou then turned around the second with a key block for a two-set edge.

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After Maggie Adamczyk and McKinley Bright punished several third-set errors and brought the Lions (25-5) back to win the third, Beachside finished off the fourth with more clutch kills from Nina Simanic and Mollie VanDeusen.

If Wednesday was the end of Beachside’s road, it closes the outstanding high school careers of a six-strong senior class — VanDeusen, Deutou, Vinessa Rafael, Isabella Taveras Seda, Lillian Jimenez and Maya Bell — that helped put Barracuda volleyball on the statewide map. Going out, perhaps, with a victory.

“We gave it our absolute best,” Lanteigne said.

Northeast Florida’s most recent champions are still going strong.

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Middleburg won a road epic in the Panhandle, 25-20, 21-25, 20-25, 25-23, 15-8 to advance to the final four. The Broncos (19-11) won their first state championship in 2023.

Niceville (23-5) held a two-sets-to-one lead and went up 23-18 in the fourth, leaving Middleburg two points from elimination, before a 7-0 Bronco run swung the balance.

Next up for Middleburg is a Nov. 5 semifinal in Winter Haven.

For the first time ever, Fleming Island is on the way to volleyball’s final four.

The top-seeded Golden Eagles held off Panama City Beach Arnold 25-12, 25-11, 20-25, 27-25 on Oct. 28 in the FHSAA Region 1-4A final, sealing their spot in the state semis in Winter Haven.

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After Arnold (19-9) exploited miscues to claw back in the third, Fleming Island (25-3) fought through a grinding fourth set to clinch the match.

Fleming Island, which earlier had handed Bishop Kenny its first second-round defeat for 22 years, continues its run on Nov. 5 at Polk State College in Winter Haven. Their opponent will be determined after the FHSAA re-seeds the final four.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Clay County volleyball duo reaches final four. What about Beachside?

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