New Smyrna Beach's district dominance continues with third straight beach volleyball crown
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — The trophy presentation looked the same as the last two years.
Just like 2022 and 2023, New Smyrna Beach clutched the championship hardware at the end of the District 7-1A beach volleyball tournament Wednesday. Spruce Creek secured the runner-up prize.
The two met in the league finals for the third straight year. The Barracudas locked up first place 4-1 on their home courts.
Both teams will advance to the regional quarterfinals next Monday. They’ll learn their opponents Friday.
“I told them, ‘Don't take this for granted,’” New Smyrna Beach coach Jonathan Cunningham said. “We've won three in a row since they started FHSAA, but yeah, don't ever take this feeling for granted. Creek is a good team. It wasn't like we had a weak district. We beat a really good team, and (Hawks coach Cara Swayze) is doing a great job with them. I was proud of the way we played.”
Also for the third consecutive season, the Barracudas’ district bracket went chalk. The No. 2 seed, Spruce Creek, beat the No. 7 seed, Flagler Palm Coast, in the quarterfinals Monday. No. 3 DeLand defeated No. 6 Matanzas.
And so on. The higher seed won every match throughout the tournament.
This year was the most competitive, though.
The Hawks (15-2) inched by DeLand 3-2 in the semifinals. Both of the regular-season matches between the two resulted in 3-2 Spruce Creek victories, too.
New Smyrna Beach (14-2) claimed the 2022 and 2023 finals 5-0. It faced Spruce Creek last week in each squad’s last contest of the regular season, and it turned into a battle. The Barracudas captured a 3-2 win, taking the first three lines but dropping four and five.
Their fifth pair, sophomores Tegan Lux and Bailey Jones, flipped their result Wednesday. After falling to Hawks sophomores Riley Bennett and Logan Milan last Thursday, they rebounded with a two-set victory (21-10, 21-17) at districts.
“Changed a little bit on the strategy,” Cunningham said. “Just some things we thought we could capitalize on, and they did. They did a good job of following the game plan.”
HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS: New Smyrna Beach beats Edgewater on path to regional finals
Another key matchup: New Smyrna Beach seniors Kaelyn Fredette-Huffman and Libby Nickels vs. Spruce Creek senior Corrine Glasnak and junior Rebecca Boone at Line 2.
Fredette-Huffman and Nickels grabbed the first set 21-16. But in the second, they fell into an early double-digit hole.
The Hawks had already jumped ahead 1-0 overall with a Line 4 victory by sophomores Taylor Fonseca and Annabelle Gentry. A 2-0 deficit against an opponent that threatened the Barracudas last week would have been difficult.
But Fredette-Huffman and Nickels staged a comeback, quickly erasing an 11-point margin. The match stayed too close to be decided in 21 points. New Smyrna Beach eventually clinched it 23-21.
“Obviously, being two-time state champs, everybody wants to beat us,” Nickels said. “But I think that just not giving up the set, not letting them take anything from us, is really important.”
The Barracudas also won at Lines 1 (senior Brianna Luoma and junior Gabrielle Bissell) and 3 (senior Lydia Spencer and junior Naia Bubaloni).
“I'm excited to see the rest of the journey,” Fredette-Huffman said. “Obviously, it's much different than the past few years have been. So we'll see, the rest of the way, how it goes.”
HIGH SCHOOL FLAG FOOTBALL: New Smyrna Beach goes for 2, beats Boone in playoffs
Results from Wednesday’s semifinals
No. 1 New Smyrna Beach beat No. 4 Atlantic 5-0
No. 2 Spruce Creek beat No. 3 DeLand 3-2
Results from Monday’s quarterfinals
Spruce Creek beat No. 7 Flagler Palm Coast 5-0
DeLand beat No. 6 Matanzas 5-0
Atlantic beat No. 5 Seabreeze 4-1
New Smyrna Beach received a bye
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: High school beach volleyball: NSB beats Creek for third district title
