The Middleburg volleyball team is headed to the state championship match.
The Broncos beat Merritt Island 3-1 on Wednesday afternoon in the Class 5A state semifinals and stand one victory away from their first state championship.
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Middleburg won 20-25, 25-17, 25-16, 25-20 to punch its ticket to the title game. The Broncos (26-5) will face Naples Barron Collier (26-6) on Thursday at 1 p.m. for the championship. Connor Rahn had 15 kills and Brooke Forkum added 14 for Middleburg.
Middleburg has played for titles before under iconic coach Carrie Prewitt, all the way back in 2003-04. The Broncos lost to powerhouse Gainesville each time, including a delayed title game in 2004 when more than half of Middleburg’s team was ill with food poisoning. The Broncos made six trips to the state semifinals under Prewitt before the longtime coach called it a career following the 2022 season.
Prewitt’s successor, Meredith Forkum, has overseen one of the area’s best lineups and let it do what it does best — win.
A championship win would add another page in Middleburg’s recent sports success. The Broncos softball team produced one of the best stories in area sports history last year. Middleburg had never been beyond the third round of the state playoffs but won the Class 5A state championship in 2022. The Middleburg football team reached the state playoffs this year in back-to-back seasons for just the second time in program history (1989-90).
Morgan Padgett (32 digs), Forkum (26 digs) and Camden Rahn (25 digs) led the way on defense for the Broncos.