‘It's so surreal’: Flagler Palm Coast volleyball team defeats Matanzas for first time in six years

The Pirates had won 25 of 27 matches against the Bulldogs dating back to 2010 before FPC won 3-1 on Oct. 8 at home.

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It had been six years since Flagler Palm Coast defeated Matanzas in a varsity volleyball match. The Pirates had won 11 consecutive matches against their Flagler County rivals. In seven of those victories, Matanzas did not lose a set.

Factoring in the Bulldogs’ modest two-match winning streak in 2019, Matanzas had won 25 of 27 matches between the two schools going back to 2010. Defeating the Pirates seemed more myth than reality — stories the fourth-year FPC seniors heard when they were freshmen from the seniors that season who had last seen it done when they were freshmen.

But it’s myth no more. The Bulldogs defeated Matanzas in four sets on Oct. 8 at home, rallying from a 0-1 deficit to win the next three sets.

“It’s so surreal, because it’s been a goal every single year that we played them,” Bulldogs senior setter Faith Dailey said. “We took a set off them for the first time in my high school career last year, and that was so surreal.”

But this year’s FPC team signaled a possible change was coming when they took Matanzas to five sets on Sept. 23 at the Pirates' gym.

“(After that) I was like, ‘Oh, when they come to our gym we're gonna whoop them.’ And … it's crazy,” Dailey said.

FPC co-captains Dailey and Marina Carlisi are the only Bulldogs who have played on the varsity team for four years.  

“Marina and I were talking at the beginning of the game. We're like, ‘this is our year. This is our last chance to beat them,’ and we are just talking like, ‘we got this’ … and we did it,” Dailey said.


It’s so surreal, because it’s been a goal every single year that we played them. We took a set off them for the first time in my high school career last year, and that was so surreal.
— FAITH DAILEY, FPC senior setter

The Bulldogs lost the first set, 25-21, but then won the next three sets, 25-14, 25-18 and 25-19 to ignite a celebration six years in the making on the home side.

“Obviously, we didn't win the first set,” FPC coach Lindsey Stewart said. “But the theme of our year has been energy and effort, and holding ourselves accountable and making sure that the energy and effort was better than the last set, no matter what set we're in. I think that we were determined and ready to come back, and we were determined to do something that hasn’t been done at least since I’ve been here.”

Stewart, in her second season at FPC, has been turning the program around. Last year, she led the Bulldogs to their first winning record (16-7) since 2019. This year, they closed the season with nine wins in their final 11 matches — including a 3-2 home win against Atlantic on Oct. 9 — to finish the regular season with a record of 11-10.

Dailey had 40 assists and 14 digs against the Pirates. Heading into the district tournament, she has 1,564 career assists.

“She just reached 1,500 assists, which is a huge milestone,” Stewart said. “We run a 5-1, so she is our main setter, our only setter.”

Matanzas transfer Haley Sobin led the Bulldogs with 21 kills. Sobin and Carlisi each had five serving aces and 13 digs. Cameron Graham had three blocks. Sobin, who transferred from Matanzas, leads the Bulldogs with 187 kills. 

“She’s added something special for us this year,” Stewart said.

Sanigh Arneaud led the Pirates with 10 kills, eight aces and 11 digs. Ari Allen had all three Matanzas blocks. Analise Smith had 15 assists, and Haley Stewart added 10 assists.

FPC is seeded fifth in the District 2-7A tournament and will play a quarterfinal match at Ocala West Port on Tuesday, Oct. 14. The winner will meet No. 1 seed DeLand on Oct. 15 at tournament host Ocala Forest.

Matanzas (9-10) is seeded sixth in the District 3-6A tournament. The Pirates will travel to No. 3 seed Winter Springs on Oct. 13 with the winner playing in the semifinals on Oct. 14 at Oviedo.

 

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