Saints volleyball secured a Panhandle Conference win against Florida State College at Jacksonville on Thursday, October 3 in a spectacular five set match that showed great team effort and mental toughness.

This was the second meeting between the Saints and the Blue Wave this season, with the Saints emerging in triumph in the rematch, 16-25, 25-19, 17-25, 25-18, 15-13.

After alternating games by both teams, a spark arose for the Saints in the fourth set with a flurry of points on a 12-5 run. The Blue Wave didn't seem to have an answer as the Saints gained momentum on Jordan Goracke's tough serves, amazing kills from a strong front line and what appeared to be an impenetrable wall of blockers at the net.

The Saints carried that fourth set momentum into the final set against a strong Blue Wave team that wouldn't go down easily. 

"It seemed like both teams had chances to completely take over the match," said Saints head coach Nick Cheronis. "Fortunately, our players kept their heads about them for set five."

Santa Fe was led out of the middle by Natalia Martinez who had a match and season high of 15 kills while adding eight blocks. Cheronis added, "When we lost Zoey Chilcote to a broken finger, we knew Nat would have to be the sophomore leader and step up."

Santa Fe finished the match with a season high 17 blocks.

Next up for the Saints (5-11, 2-1 PC) is conference play versus Pensacola State College at home on Saturday, October 5th at noon.

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