Merritt Island falls to Pine Crest in Class 3A state semifinals

Merritt Island traveled to Polk State College in Winter Have on Nov. 3 for the Class 3A state semifinals against Pine Crest.

The Panthers avenged their regular season defeat to the Mustangs with a four-set win 28-26, 18-25, 25-18, 25-21.

“Props to Pine Crest. They came out to win and they just played really well,” Merritt Island head coach Angie Patrick said. “We had a hard time containing at the net, getting our first ball side out. This level it can go either way because all the teams are so good.”

It was an even match statistically with Merritt Island spiking one more kill than Pine Crest, tallying two more assists and two fewer service errors. Pine Crest’s biggest advantage was serve receive errors as Merritt Island finished with 10 and Pine Crest ended with four. The Panthers scored five more points than the Mustangs on errors.

Merritt Island rallied from a 17-13 deficit in set one and had set point at 25-24 and 26-25, but Pine Crest claimed the set with three straight points. The Mustangs rebounded in set two sprinting out to a 9-1 lead and sporting multiple leads of nine points.

After the Mustangs scored the first point of set three, Pine Crest rattled off four straight and never trailed the remainder of the set. The Panthers led wire-to-wire in set four and led by as many as eight points.

Mustangs junior Gena Walters led the team with 16 kills. Junior Ema Michell posted a double-double of 14 kills and 21 digs. Junior Lydia Scott finished with 12 kills and 13 digs.

In their final high school match, senior Amber Ives tallied 44 assists and senior Reece Logins recorded 18 digs.

“We just talked about how this game doesn’t define the season they had. They had an amazing season,” Patrick said. “We had an amazing regional. Just dominated. When you get on the state championship floor, you got to learn to deal with pressure situations.”

Merritt Island finishes the season with a 25-7 record. It reached the final four in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2011-12. The Mustangs graduate eight seniors in Sadie McClellan, Whitney Wisniewski, Khloe Horton, Alyssa Passmore, Ives, Loggins and Bella Becker.

“I just feel for our seniors,” Patrick said. “They have given so much to the program. I thank them for everything that they’ve done. We’ll just keep this fire in our hearts for next year.”

FLORIDA TODAY’s Craig Bailey contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Merritt Island falls to Pine Crest in Class 3A state semifinals