Seabreeze volleyball team outlasts Flagler Palm Coast to improve to 6-0

The teams battled for five sets and danced to the Cupid Shuffle.

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They held a volleyball match and a line dance broke out.

During an intermission between sets of Seabreeze’s five-set victory over Flagler Palm Coast on Thursday, Sept. 4, both teams lined up in front of their benches and performed an extended dance to the Cupid Shuffle.

“Our teams love each other,” explained FPC coach Lindsey Stewart, who is good friends with Seabreeze coach Janet Bruce. The friendship has trickled down to the players.

“They play each other so much (in beach and indoor volleyball) they’ve developed a relationship,” Stewart said.

The match itself at FPC’s gym, was so good that even the losing coach could smile afterward. From the first set, you could tell that neither team was going down without a fight — even with a jaunty Cupid Shuffle mixed in.

The Sandcrabs won the opening set, needing five extra points to win by two at 30-28. Seabreeze also won the second set, 25-20, and seemed poised to sweep until FPC won the next two, 25-14 and 25-21, to force a deciding fifth set.

The Sandcrabs broke a 5-5 tie and led the rest of the way to win the fifth set 15-10 and remain undefeated on the season with a 6-0 record.

“You could be upset you didn’t win, but at the same time, it was a great match,” Stewart said. “Both sides gave it their all and thrived on each other’s energy.”

Seabreeze appears to be on its way to its best season since 2021 when it finished with a 19-8 record and advanced to the playoffs. But, unlike this year, the Sandcrabs started that season with four straight losses.


It’s surreal. I don’t think we’ve ever had this winning streak (to start the season).
 — JANET BRUCE, Seabreeze volleyball coach

“It’s surreal,” said Bruce, the Sandcrabs’ third-year coach. “I don’t think we’ve ever had this winning streak (to start the season). We have an all-around team, and I’m able to play the entire team in pretty much every single set. But they all have a specific role.”

The Sandcrabs had 18 blocks in the match with Carley Bandell in on eight of them. Alexandria Dingman led the Sandcrabs with 13 kills and libero Lilli Litz had 38 digs including a key “pancake” dig with the back of her hand.

“Those are hard to get to,” Litz said. “It’s hard (playing libero). You’ve got to put your body out there.”

“She’s able to get underneath a lot of balls,” Bruce said of the junior. “She a great digger and a great leader in the back row. She’s finding her voice.”

FPC beat Seabreeze in the preseason, but since then the Sandcrabs have been unflappable, winning three of their matches in five sets.

“I think we’re just all connected. We’re all good friends,” Litz said.

The Bulldogs fell to 2-8, but that includes six losses in the Nike tournament of Champions Aug. 29-30 in Gainesville. The Labor Day weekend event is known as the toughest high school volleyball tournament in the Southeast.

FPC hosts Menendez on Tuesday, Sept. 9 and Taylor on Thursday, Sept. 11. Seabreeze plays at Deltona on Monday, Sept. 8, hosts Taylor on Tuesday and visits Matanzas on Sept. 11.

 

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