In the final combination, Sidney Sutter served the ball on match point.
The players on the first court won, tying the score at 2-2, and in the third set Sutter and Allie Hepworth (both sophomores) made an incredible comeback in the second set. They were trailing 20-19 but came back. And win.
It almost dragged the match into the third set. Who can be the first to reach 15 points?
So Sutter prayed.
“I prayed many times that God would give us the energy and everything we needed to push through,” Sutter said. “I was definitely a little nervous. The music helped calm me down. My teammates calmed me down. It gave me a zen feeling.”
After Hepworth and Sutter took a 12-7 lead, Berkeley Prep called a timeout to begin the comeback. The game was still in favor of the Dolphins at 12-11, but Gulf Breeze maintained the lead at 13-12. One point later, Sutter served.
The impact from the Bucks sent the ball flying to the right side of the court. A set from the right pushed him to the left. Then the spike hit the net.
Gulf Breeze did it for me. Hepworth and Sutter clinched the set 15-12. The match was won 2-1. And the match was won 3-2. They immediately ran to each other and hugged each other. For a moment, time stopped.
“That moment felt so surreal,” Sutter said. “That hug was such a huge relief. All the worries and stress that was on our shoulders completely melted away.”
But moments don't last forever. The rest of the Gulf Breeze team immediately rushed to Court 2 at Florida State University to corner the winning pair. The Dolphins achieved perfection, finishing the season with a 22-0 record and the state title.
“Now time is back to normal. It's a surreal moment,” Sutter said. “I can't explain it any better than that.”
But what lasts forever? Titles currently held by the Dolphins: 2024 FHSAA Beach Volleyball State Champions.
“There were fireworks going off and medals hanging around their necks, so it looks like they took a little hit,” Gulf Breeze head coach Chelsea Kroll said. “But…I really have no words.”
“Every time we go to practice, every time we go somewhere as a team, we always talk about it and just go for it,” senior Addisyn Tolbert said. “Now that I finally have a medal, it’s an incredible feeling. It’s insane.”
overcome adversity
Sunday afternoon wasn't the only unexpected challenge for the Dolphins in their pursuit of a state championship.
Storms and tornadoes pounded the Tallahassee area and the rest of the Florida Panhandle on Friday. FSU's campus was hit by a tornado, causing extensive damage. Many areas lost power, including the area where Gulf Breeze was staying.
Gulf Breeze was scheduled to begin the tournament at 8 a.m. Friday. The entire schedule was postponed due to the storm. The Dolphins had to wait until 7 a.m. Saturday to depart. It was very similar to last year when things were postponed due to weather, but not as bad as this.
“The unexpected happened last year, and we thought we went into this weekend prepared for the unexpected,” Kroll said. “And then something even more unexpected happened.”
Friday was a rest day for Gulf Breeze.
“We didn't have cell phones, so we didn't just endlessly scroll through social media. We played board games and bonded as a team. So it made us even closer than we are now,” Sutter said. But we used that rest day as energy to move forward towards this. ”
Volleyball provided Gulf Breeze's escape during a chaotic weekend after defeating St. John Lutheran and Hagerty twice to settle Saturday's match. They then defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 3-1 in the state semifinals on Sunday.
The championship game will be played over five games, and this will be the fourth time all year that the game will be decided in the fifth game for the Dolphins.
“All week leading up to this weekend, I kept telling them, 'You can't go into this weekend expecting to be 3-0 every time.' I thought, 'Even if it's 3-2, maybe You have to be comfortable in three sets, even if you're down, none of that is comfortable when you're in a situation like that,” Kroll said. “We have to make sure we’re OK with dealing with that kind of burden of where the state championship is on the court.”
Somewhere in this story there is a fairy tale ending. A year ago, Sutter, who was playing with Carmin Ferguson, didn't get a chance to finish the game as another court lost and the New Smyrna Beach game was decided, ending Gulf Breeze's season.
This year's state championship literally depended on Sutter, who is now affiliated with Hepworth.
“I wouldn't want anyone else in that position other than those two,” Kroll said.
After a hard-fought battle, all the chaos turned into something good: a celebration, as Gulf Breeze came out on top.
“Just seeing all of our hard work come to fruition is like a dream come true,” Kroll said.
“(Volleyball) is our escape and we know we can get a really good reward out of it, so it's a really good thing,” Tolbert said. “(Sutter and Hepworth) in particular are young, have volleyball knowledge and are mature, which sets our program up for future success.”
Then came the fireworks. medal. Cheers. Trophy. And, as I can only imagine, the bus ride home was thrilling.
“It's mind-boggling,” Sutter said. “This team has worked extremely hard and fought and pushed each other all season long. We earned this.”
Ben Grieco is a sports reporter for the Pensacola News Journal. He can be reached at X (@BenGriecoSports) or by email at BGrieco@gannett.com.. Liam Rooney of the Tallahassee Democrat contributed to this article.