By Matt O'Hern

Sports writer

In the town of Merritt Island, three things are certain - death, taxes and volleyball district championships.

Last week, Merritt Island High School and Merritt Island Christian School's volleyball teams took home district trophies in their respective districts. MICS won their fifth championship in a row, and the Mustangs won their third consecutive title.

MICS swept the Temple Christian School Lions in three games (25-7, 25-16 and 25-17) to win the Class 1A District 7 championship. Erica Robes led the Lady Cougars with nine kills, followed by Kacy Paulk with eight and Stephanie Quinn with six. Quinn also had 15 assists, and Kacie Paulk had 12.

The win improved MICS' record to 24-2, with one of its losses coming from Merritt Island and the other coming from Holy Trinity Academy (Suntree). Following the win, coach Laurie Haines compared the young and talented squad with the best team in the program's history.

"This team is as good as the 2004 team that made it into the final four," she said. "We have some depth on the bench in every position, and although my players are young, they're very competent in the sport."

The Lady Mustangs of Merritt Island preserved their undefeated record against local teams by defeating the Titusville Terriers in the three games (25-13, 25-13 and 25-14) at the Class 4A District 13 final.

The score in game three was closer than indicated by the final result, and both teams were tied at 11 before Merritt Island pulled away for the win. Merritt Island coach Angie Patrick was encouraged by the poise and persistence of her determined squad.

"We wanted to take care of business and play the best volleyball we could play," Patrick said. "Titusville gave us a pretty good match. I'm proud of the way we kept our composure and how we stayed focused point-by-point."

Right side hitter Katie Riley finished the match with 12 kills and middle blocker Crystal Niederriter had eight. As senior captains, Riley and Niederriter have led the Mustangs' offense during their impressive winning streak, which includes 44 wins during the past two seasons.

Following the sweep of Titusville, Niederriter was thrilled to end her final regular season on a high note, with another district crown.

"It feels so great to have three in a row," she said. "We wanted the last game to be really great. We just wanted to show everybody that we're Merritt Island and you can't mess with us, because we're taking this trophy."

With the win, the Mustangs earned their third-straight District 13 championship and earned home court advantage for the first round of the state playoffs, which started earlier this week.

Contact Matt O'Hern at (321) 751-5960 or t [email protected].