Last Saturday, the girls volleyball team traveled to Lakeland to beat Bishop Moore and win the Raiders’ first-ever volleyball Florida High School Athletic Association 4A State Championship.

Their first state game was against Academy of Holy Names, where they were able to win with a score of 3-1. They then headed to the state finals where they were able to beat Bishop Moore 3-1.

“It’s surreal, to be honest. It’s something that every single girl on this team dreams of, especially me, and it’s something that has never been done in the school’s history. So just to be able to check that off the box, nothing will ever compare to this win,” said senior Jackie Taylor.

For most of the seniors, this was their last chance to leave a legacy and win states for the Raiders before going to college.

“I remember our coach, Emilio Rodriguez,  came in three years ago and he told us, ‘We’re gonna win states. That’s my goal. We’re gonna win states.’ And then every single one of us laughed at him, and we looked at him like he was crazy. And here we are, and we won, and it almost doesn’t seem real. It’s a really good feeling,” said senior Maya Pace.

Now that the girls are State champions, they know that next season they will have a target behind their backs and will have to work extra hard to be able to dominate the state once again.

“That’s the fun part! We’re going to get everyone’s best game. I believe we have felt that all of this year as well being the #1 ranked team in our classification all year. In sports, everyone wants to see how they measure up to the current champion. It’s our job to make sure our focus and effort show up every day for practices and games,” Head Coach Emilio Rodriguez said.