Volleyball: Gulf Breeze gears up for another postseason run, topples Navarre in latest win

In a volleyball matchup pinning two area rivals against one another, a pair of Gulf Breeze junior captains helped deliver the loudest moment in front of what was a raucous crowd throughout Thursday night.

Sarah Frazee, PNJ's Newcomer of the Year last year, saved a point by somehow getting to a ball that was seemingly out of the reach near the front of the net to keep a long rally alive. The libero's diving, one-handed dig served as a spectacular precursor to an emphatic smash from outside hitter Bella Satterwhite, which brought a roar from the already-standing student section.

The sequence highlighted a 6-0 push early in the third set against a Navarre team that was game for much of the match, but appeared rattled by night's end. The Dolphins scored 11 of the set's final 13 points to close out a three-set victory over the Raiders from Gulf Breeze High School.

Set scores were 25-19, 25-18 and 25-14.

"I would say that we all worked as a team. We've been pretty big on having a lot of energy and I think we were all really encouraging to the point that we were all in it together," Dolphins senior setter Aubrey Tylavsky said. "It was not just one person's game, it was everybody's."

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It was the sixth-straight win for the Dolphins, who improved their record to 14-2 this season. Eleven of their 14 wins have come by way of a sweep. One of the team's who have taken a set off the area's best team was Navarre, who served as host during their last meeting on Sept. 12.

But just as was the case then, and has been the case for nearly two decades, Gulf Breeze was just too strong for their Santa Rosa County foe. The Dolphins have won their last 33 meetings with the Raiders (12-8), last falling to them in 2007.

"It's an insane, rivalry match. It's always going to be difficult playing in another gym, but playing here, I was super proud of them, especially with that third set," Gulf Breeze head coach Jasmine King said. "(The Raiders) are a great team. They've got some talented girls and girls that have been on the team for a couple of years. And they are hungry to beat us, so it's never going to be easy."

Dolphins sophomores Sydney Sutter and Peyton McDonald each added kills in the last frame while fellow sophomore Estelle Relle added points from the block as well as on attack, but Navarre head coach Ryan Davenport keyed in the contributions made by Satterwhite, who had a tip from the left side to end the match.

"Really between those two teams, it's about who plays the better game. And when you have a player like Bella who is one fire and virtually unstoppable, that's really when the match got away from us," he said. "They just started giving her the ball more and we were doing all we can. In the end, we fought hard for the first two sets and hopefully this is a learning opportunity for us."

Spurts midway through each of the first two sets helped the home team gain control.

Sparked by a Sutter tip, Gulf Breeze used a 4-0 run to open a 13-9 cushion in the first set. The visitors closed the gap to 16-15, but following a timeout, the hosts scored the next three points, which featured a block from Lexi Pannunzio.

The second set was tied 12-12 before Gulf Breeze when on a 6-1 run. There, Pannunzio was key at the front of the net, putting up points on a free ball and a spike to the middle of the Raiders defense.

Navarre aims to raise its game

The two teams are done for the regular season, and while the results have yet to fall its way, Navarre has taken one measure to try and compete with Gulf Breeze: a tougher schedule.

According the latest FHSAA rankings released on Tuesday, the Raiders are 13th among 100 Class 6A schools with a 12.74 strength-of-schedule rating. Directly ahead of them are the Dolphins at 12.78.

Nine matches against teams currently ranked within the top 100 overall in the state has aided Navarre's rating. That includes a Sept. 9 game against No. 7 Chiles. Additionally, the team has played two strong programs out of Alabama in Fairhope (29-9) and Gulf Shores (19-9).

The Raiders are just 3-8 in those matchups, but as was the case last year, a potential third meeting against Gulf Breeze in the District 1-6A tournament is looming, and another game between the two during regionals is possible.

"We've reached the district championship two years in a row, now we have Gulf Breeze in our district. It's tough and we know it's tough," Davenport said. That's why we had a tough schedule. ... We're playing top-10 teams in our region right now, and takes what it takes to be prepared and see what it takes beat a team like that. It's unfortunate that we have a lot of great teams in this state that are in our region. So it's a battle to get out, and it starts right here in this gym. It's a great program and we're just trying to get past that hurdle."

For Navarre, getting past that hurdle starts with players that top the area in several statistic categories.

Respectively first and second in kills, Kaitlyn Montgomery and Layla Prochazka provide the offensive punch. Julia Irmen, who recently surpassed 2,000 career assists, is the area leader in assists by a wide margin as she quarterbacks the offense.

Defensively, the person pacing the area in digs is Addison Danforth. She along with senior defensive specialist Amanda Dodson made several sprawling saves on the backline.

An efficient Raiders block, and how the Dolphins adjusted

However, the one place where the Raiders gave the Dolphins trouble were with their blocks. Early in the first two sets, Montgomery, Katelyn Weller, and in particular Emma Gross swatted down several shots at the net, leading to Gulf Breeze reinforcing a couple key points of emphasis.

In speaking to Tylavsky and senior captain Riley Bloomberg and sophomore Allie Hepworth, King instructed her setters to avoid setting the ball too tight, but also not far enough to get the team out of system. Meanwhile for her hitters, the Dolphins head coach challenged them to swing high.

"If they were set tight, I told them try to use your peripheral vision to swing with high hands and get that high tool off the top of the block," King said.

Scary to think, but Gulf Breeze is deeper than before

The use of three setters highlights an overall luxury that the Dolphins have: depth. Every player on the roster saw action on Thursday. While 11 players get the brunt of the minutes, anyone at any given moment can contribute.

"Last year whenever we'd make a change, people would play a little timid or kind of freak out a little bit like, 'Oh no, we haven't ever done this before,'" King said. "Now, I think the best thing about it is that it doesn't matter if its districts or regionals, everyone is really to go at all times."

Reaching the regional finals a season ago, Gulf Breeze has five more matches left in the regular season before beginning defense of its district title. The team plays next at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Booker T. Washington.

At the same time, Navarre plays at Pace.

Patrick Bernadeau is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached at (772) 985-9592, on X under the handle @PatBernadeau or via email at pbernadeau@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Volleyball: Deep and Powerful Gulf Breeze extends dominance over Navarre