MIDDLEBURG - In a stunning display of team camaraderie, the Ridgeview High Panthers volleyball team, minus top blocker Devinn Nickson to a dislocated knee midway through the first game, stormed around an offensive barrage from sophomore hitter Elaina Reynolds to beat Middleburg High, 3-0, in their new district 3-5A championship game Thursday at Middleburg High School. Ridgeview now has five consecutive district titles with four from district 4-6A and this one in district 3-5A. Both teams, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in district 3-5A, advance into the region 1-5A playoffs with Ridgeview (18-5) hosting game one against Panama City Mosley (15-11) on Wed., Oct. 23 and Middleburg (14-14) traveling to Gulf Breeze (23-3). Ponte Vedra (20-6) is top seed in the region playoff points with Gulf Breeze second, Ridgeview third and Middleburg seventh. Ponte Vedra hosts Fort Walton Beach and Wakulla hosts Arnold in the other region openers.

"I knew someone had to step up after Devinn went down," said Reynolds, who took over and controlled the scoring attack for coach Destiny Brightman as she claimed her fifth straight district title. "Shaneice (Steer) and I have been working together to make a good net combination and I knew I would have to go stronger because they were defending heavy on Shaneice."

Steer, a senior, who has pounded the net for Brightman with a remarkable 227 scoring strikes through the regular season, understood her role in the strategy against Middleburg.

"Sure, I wanted the ball, but Elaina was hot and I was going to do whatever the team needed," said Steer. "If Middleburg's defense was targeting me, then she was going to be open and we took advantage of that."

In the match opener, with Middleburg surging to a 14-10 lead behind Mone Gordon and Kayleigh Smith strikes, Nickson, who is one of the top blockers in north Florida with her 84 stuffs, lay motionless on the right side of the Panther defense while a volley continued on the left side.

When the point was over, Brightman knew something bad had happened.

"She couldn't move," said Brightman, "But she calmed down and was smiling when she left. I got the team together and tried to calm them down; the girls were on the verge of a lot of emotions, and we said to ourselves that we have to step up and win the game. We altered our strategy from a solid defensive front to an attacking offense to keep Middleburg on their heels. The girls really responded."

Ridgeview surged once the game resumed and tied the score at 19-19 behind a three-pack of serving aces from junior libero Ashlyn Halford and strong scoring strikes from senior Aubry Brown.

Middleburg was relentless with blocking the Panther attack as junior Jenna Sypniewski and senior Kayliegh Smith thwarted a handful of shots before Reynolds sliced a shot off Bronco defender Mikayla Simmons to push the score to a 25-23 Panther win.

"We knew we had to keep driving for shots at the net to hit the floor, but Middleburg is Middleburg and they kept fighting," said Brightman, who earlier in the regular season got a hard-fought 3-2 win over Bronco coach Carrie Prewitt in a first-ever Ridgeview win over Middleburg in volleyball and a 3-2 loss to Fleming Island in a game that went into overtime in each of the first four games before the final fifth game to 15. "Those two games were key to us knowing that we could handle the best volleyball strikes from the best teams around. The Fleming Island game was a huge confidence boost and it was late in the season."

Games two and three followed similar paths with Ridgeview getting early leads and holding court to the end with wins of 25-19 for both games.

"Elaina was a junior varsity player last year that I called up in our playoff run and she is such a competitor that she stepped in and was a strong part of our fourth title," said Brightman. "I knew what she could do."

Middleburg fought to an 18-18 tie in game three but Ridgeview answered with a 7-1 run fueld by four scoring shots from Reynolds; one a dinked floater that caught the Bronco defense on their heels awaiting another blast.

"I had missed a couple of shots long in the third game because I was tiring and coach Destiny told me to swing the shot into the open spots on their defense," said Reynolds. "Our attack had them backing up and waiting for shots so we were able to drop scoring shots in front of them."

Arnold 80

Wakulla 72

Ridgeview 71

Mosley 68

Gulf Breeze 42

Ponte Vedra 28

Middleburg 114

Choctawhatchee 167

District 1-5A: Gulf Breeze (15-11) (beat #2 Choctawhatchee in semis; beat Fort Walton Beach 3-1 in final)

District 2-5A: Wakulla (beat #3 Arnold in semis, won title over #1 Mosley (16-9) 3-1)

District 3-5A: Ridgeview (18-5) (Beat #4 OPHS 3-0 in semis, beat MHS (14-14) in final 3-0. OPHS (10-11) beat Paxon (7-12) 3-1. #2 MHS beat Westside (4-10) in quarters, #3 Stanton in semi)

District 4-5A: #1 Ponte Vedra (20-6) (Beat #4 Seabreeze (13-14) 3-0 in semi) beat #2 St. Augustine 3-0 in final). St. Augustine beat #3 Clay 3-0 in semi. #3 Clay beat #6 Matanzas 3-1 in quarters.

District 1-7A: No. 1 Bartram Trail (19-8) beat No. 2 Mandarin (20-6) 3-0.

No. 3 Oakleaf (12-11) beat Sandalwood (5-17) in quarters 3-0, lost to Mandarin 3-1 in semis.

District 3-6A: No. 1 Fleming Island (16-5) beat No. 2 Creekside (14-9) 3-2. Fleming Island beat No. 5 Atlantic Coast (5-13) 3-0 in semis. Creekside beat No. 3 Fletcher (20-5) 3-1 in semis.

District 3-4A: No. 1 Yulee bet No. 2 Fernandina Beach 3-1. No. 3 Keystone Heights (10-18) beat No. 6 Eastside (4-13) 3-0 in quarters, lost 3-2 to Fernandina Beach (18-9) in semis.

District 3-2A: No. 1 Christ's Church Academy (21-6) beat St. Johns Country Day School 3-0 in final. SJCDS (11-8) beat No. 3 First Coast Christian (11-8) 3-0 in semis.