Southwest and Furgeson Advance in District 15-6A

All Southwest's girls' volleyball team wanted this season was a chance.

For the past two years, the once powerful Eagles haven't been able to get out of District 15-6A.

That drought ended Wednesday night when host Southwest clinched a trip to the regional playoffs by outlasting Lourdes Academy 25-15, 21-25, 13-25, 25-23, 15-10 in a district semifinal.

The Eagles (15-9), the No. 3 seed in the tournament, rallied from a 2-1 deficit to eliminate the Bobcats and clinch a spot in the district championship match 7 p.m. Thursday at Southwest against Ferguson, which beat Sunset in the other semifinal.

''If there's one thing I made sure would happen this year was that we weren't going to wear out in a five-game match,'' Southwest coach Iris Carpio said. ``We've stressed conditioning a lot more this season and that paid off in this match.''

Senior outside hitter Miriam DeLeon led the Eagles with 12 kills and 15 digs, while junior Shannon Ferguson had a team-high 14 kills and seven digs.

Both helped Southwest put away the fourth game and tie the match after Lourdes had cut the Eagles' lead to 24-23. Southwest then put the match away in the fifth game behind the solid setting of junior middle hitter Hannah Penna.

Penna and DeLeon are the only returning players from last season who had played a full varsity season as starters, and DeLeon did that two years ago as a sophomore since she missed most of last season with an ankle injury.

Carpio has had to rely on many relatively inexperienced players throughout the season.

One such player Wednesday was first-year setter Kristen Rivera. The senior finished with 44 assists and had four aces.

''We've been successful in these kinds of matches because of players picking each other up when some are having bad games,'' Carpio said.

• District 15-6A semifinal -- Ferguson d. Sunset 25-18, 25-18, 25-22: The Falcons (21-4) clinched their second consecutive berth in the regional playoffs with the win and will try to win their first district championship Thursday against Southwest.

Ferguson took control of the match early and never let up as junior Kristin Walewski conducted the attack with 29 assists, four aces and three kills. Her sister, Alexandra, had a team-high 13 kills and four aces.

Junior middle hitter (Danielle Pohl Pictured left and accompanied by Valeria Mejia) dominated at the net with seven kills and also had two blocks.

The loss eliminated the Knights (9-13), who had reached the regional round each of the past two seasons.

Article written by Andre C. Fernandez of the Miami Herald