LADY RAIDERS DEFEATED FT WALTON

Oct 10, 2021

The smiles on coaches, players, and parents expressed joy (and relief) when the Lady Raiders defeated Fort Walton Beach Saturday.

Story by Near Post Sports

Navarre (17-6) lost its three previous matches, and volleyball coach Ryan Davenport was disappointed in the downturn of events. But all that changed with this straight-set win at home.

“Seventeen wins. First time since 2007, which is awesome,” Davenport said, referring to the Raider squad that went 17-4 – and the last Navarre team to beat Gulf Breeze.

After their 3-1 loss at Choctaw earlier this week, where he lamented a string of games with inconsistent hitting, Davenport’s Raiders ‘fed the beast’ to get things rolling.

Kyra McKelvey got set early and a lot. And she’s claimed the presumed single-season school record in kills with more than 220.

“It improves my confidence – it’s soaring right now – because everyone trusts me, and I trust them. It built off the energy we had today,” the junior outside hitter said.

The confidence and momentum belonged to the Raiders, and it included senior Paige Parkinson returning to a much larger role. The tall, multi-role player took on setting from the front row.

“I was really excited to go in, because I was injured and out for a while,” said Parkinson, who said she’s about 90 percent recovered from a nasty ankle sprain. “Before my injury, we were practicing me set front row. Now we have the opportunity … and I’m glad that it went pretty well.”

Navarre is counting on this momentum to continue into their upcoming matches, starting with Gulf Breeze on Tuesday on the Raiders’ home floor. Gametime is 6:30 p.m.

“We’re coming off a three-loss streak, and the energy had been questionable. The confidence wasn’t there. We needed this today. Personally, it feels great to see them very happy and play well,” Davenport said. “The confidence and momentum coming out of this match hopefully carries into Tuesday.”

Their final regular-season clash is Thursday with South Walton. After that, it looks like they’ll have the #3 seed in the district playoffs and a rematch against Niceville (5-9 overall, 4-1 in district). Time, date, and location still to be announced.

Fort Walton Beach (9-14, 2-4 in district) looks to have a #4 seed going into district tournament, but they still have two non-district games – Tate and Pensacola Catholic – before it starts.