MIA Advances to State Sweet 16

Marco Island Academy coach Alyssa Stolinas delivered a message to her heartbroken volleyball team after their Sweet 16 loss to Keswick Christian, 3-0, on Friday, October 27, in St. Petersburg. Remember how it feels. But also remember Tuesday night's performance when they played perhaps the best game in Rays history, winning 3-1 at St. John Neumann after losing the first game in overtime.

"I told the girls at the end only seven teams in the state of Florida get to have the happy ending,” said Alyssa Stolinas, Rays Head Coach. “Probably the worst we played all year. But we're young. So I think it's going to be a great learning experience. It's going to be something that forces them to work harder.”

Second-seeded Keswick Christian beat a Rays team that took a four-hour bus ride to the St. Petersburg campus. Keswick dispatched the Rays 25-10, 25-18, 25-16. Against third-seeded St. John Neumann, the sixth-seeded Rays dropped the opening game 26-24, then roared back to win three straight games, 25-16, 25-19, 25-9

There’s no question the future looks bright for the Rays. Only one senior graduates from a 21-7 team that is comprised mostly of sophomores and freshmen. Sophomores Medney Garraux, Madison Stolinas, and Rylee Howard are team leaders. Sophia Ogdin shows promise as the freshman libero. Sidney Legros and Karina are the only juniors on the roster. Kamea Blaskovich, Amelia Skender, and Isabella Oliver are all freshmen who saw a lot of varsity action.

"We only lose Jenna,” Stolinas said of versatile performer Jenna Ragan. “She's a key player, so we'll miss her a lot. But other than that, our core kind of stays together. We're firm believers that you only go as far as your seniors take you. With Jenna as the only one, we always talked about doing it for Jenna. This is the last time they will all play together. We are going to be missing her, she plays a huge role. The girls were super upset at the end of the game. Jenna was upset. She's not playing college volleyball. She's done playing volleyball. It's hard. It is."

Stolinas is excited when she thinks about what could happen with this group.

“It's very exciting,” Stolinas said. “That's something we talked about. The season’s over, but what you do from now till August next year, that’s going to be everything. We're so young and we just played so well against Neumann. Friday it was like a whole different team. You kind of want to feel bummed but you can't because it was a great season."