ORANGE PARK - Seven kills from Brynn White and six each from Brooke Pickett and Kendall Proffitt were not enough to get St. Johns Country Day over their nemesis, as the Spartans fell in three sets at Christ’s Church Academy in the District 2-2A volleyball final on October 19.

To continue its season, the Spartans, now 14-7 and ranked 19th in the FHSAA Class 2A rankings on MaxPreps.com, must hope for an at-large berth in the Class 2A regional playoffs. The first four spots in the regional go to District champions, while the remaining four are awarded to the highest-ranked teams in Districts 1 through 4, using the MaxPreps.com rankings as of October 21.

SJCD had leads in each game, only to see the Eagles roar back to steal the wins. In the first game, the Spartans led 16-11 after consecutive blocks by Ashanti Williams, who frequently combined with Hadley Dantzler to set up a wall that thwarted the Eagles’ outside hitters. But Christ’s Church scored six of the next seven points to knot the game at 17, and then went on a run during which they scored five of six points to take control at 23-20.

“That is the thing about volleyball— it is all about momentum,” said SJCD head coach Jenna Williams. “We had the momentum through the first 15 points.”

The Spartans led 5-3 in the second game, but the lead turned into a 10-6 deficit when the Eagles went on a 7-1 run fueled by two kills by outside hitter Nadia Mortensen and an ace from setter Ashley Crick. SJCD rallied to tie the game at 13 on a kill by Wynn, but the Eagles seized control with a six-point run that featured two kills by Julia Howard and a spike by Mortensen.

SJCD came out of their huddle for the third game with a determined cheer and used those emotions to score the first six points of the game, two of them on aces by junior Bella Gomez. The Spartans increased their lead to 8-1 before Christ’s Church went on a 6-1 run to come within striking distance and then a 7-1 run to take a 15-12 lead. The game ended when Wynn and Gomez could not control a low dig from Spartans libero Kate Jacobs along the sideline that hit the net and dropped to the floor.

The back-and-forth District final, characterized by long rallies, was much closer than the Eagles’ 25-8, 25-19, 25-17 sweep over SJCD on August 24. Christ’s Church seemed to find another gear when they needed it, playing their best during critical points at the end of each game.

“Pressure can either make water or diamonds, and we liquified tonight,” said Williams, who called Christ’s Church the Spartans’ biggest rival at the beginning of the season.