NEW SMYRNA BEACH — Another beach volleyball postseason has arrived, and No. 2-seeded New Smyrna Beach reached the regional semifinals for the fifth year in a row with a 5-0 victory over No. 7 North Marion on April 27.
The Barracudas (14-5) haven’t missed the Round of 16 since beach volleyball became an FHSAA-sanctioned sport in 2022. New Smyrna Beach extended its streak without dropping a set across its five lines in Monday’s Region 2-2A quarterfinal.
The ‘Cudas have enough talent to get the job done as it is, as they’ve proved in recent history. Add to that the home-court advantage with familiar weather conditions thanks to their higher seeding, and New Smyrna Beach was set up perfectly for a calm afternoon.
“We have this wind a lot, so I think it’s always to our advantage when teams come here and they don’t know how to work with it,” said Bailey Jones, who plays on the No. 1 line with Teagan Lux. “We have learned to be really consistent with the things that might be adversity for other teams. … I think what was working for us was working with that and just playing our consistent game.”
The afternoon started with 2-0 victories by NSB’s Savannah Toler and Unity Buker on Line 2 and Laila Parnell and Jasmine Mahoney on Line 4. Lines 1 (Jones and Lux), 3 (Mollie Hale and Paige Taylor) and 5 (Kate Collins and Della McLaughlin) also swept their respective opponents to complete the cumulative 10-0 sweep.
And that was against a North Marion squad that was 10-2 entering regionals.
It wasn’t a surprise for New Smyrna Beach, the 2022 and 2023 state champion, 2025 state runner-up and five-time defending district winner. It’s what it’s come to accept when it steps foot in the sand.
“We set a standard. Those 2022 and 2023 teams set a standard,” coach Jonathan Cunningham said. “When these girls come in and start putting in the offseason work, that’s the standard. There’s no other exception but that. So they work hard. I mean, they work really, really hard. We see the results of it during the season.”
Despite seven of their 10 starters not having any starting experience prior to the 2026 season, the Barracudas successfully reloaded and are heading to a regional semifinal once again.
New Smyrna Beach will play Satellite, who beat the ‘Cudas 3-2 on March 11, for a spot in the Elite Eight on April 30. The difference now is the Barracudas are ideally playing their best volleyball at the most important time.
“This is like our peaking season, is what (Cunningham) wants to call it,” Lux said. “He doesn’t want us to be the best at the beginning of the season. We should be peaking here now and in the next coming games.”
DeLand falls to Hagerty in Region 1-3A quarterfinals
New Smyrna Beach’s latest playoff win also makes it the last Volusia-Flagler beach volleyball program vying for a state title after No. 7 DeLand fell to No. 2 Hagerty 4-1 in a Region 1-3A quarterfinal.
The Bulldogs got a tough draw against the Huskies, who are ranked as the No. 6 team in the FHSAA.
DeLand earned a 2-1 triumph on Line 3, but that was the only win it found. Hagerty won 2-0 on Lines 1, 2 and 5 and took a 2-1 victory on Line 4.
The loss ended the Bulldogs’ season with a 10-7 record and a second-place finish at the District 2-3A Tournament.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New Smyrna Beach beach volleyball moves to region semis … again
Reporting by Zach Allen, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
