West Orange nears perfection
West Orange girls volleyball is one step closer Wednesday to completing a perfect regular season for the first in the school’s 42-year history.
The Warriors moved to 20-0 with a 25-7, 25-16, 25-23 homecourt win over Windermere on senior night. Their final scheduled game is tonight at home vs. Wekiva, a game rescheduled due to Hurricane Irma.
“We’re clicking on all cylinders now,” head coach Ross Usie said. “We haven’t dropped a set since our tournament late September, and we’ve been beating some good teams along the way.”
West Orange begins the postseason on Monday at home with a district tournament semifinal vs. Evans. The Warriors’ road to state in Class 9A runs through nationally ranked Oviedo, which beat them in the regional final last year.
“Our end goal is to win states, Usie said. “We’ve had a bad taste in our mouth since last year losing in the regional finals. That was not the team I saw all season. It’s been a roadblock for us, but I think we can get past that this year and make it all the way.”
Six of the Warriors’ seven starters are committed to play at Division I college programs: (Tulane),
(Arkansas), (UNC-Wilmington), (Southern California), (South Carolina) and (Cornell).
“We all have been playing volleyball for a long time so we all have a really high volleyball IQ,” said senior setter Bumford. “We have different ways of playing, but when it comes together, we all play as a team.”
Oviedo, last season’s 9A runner-up, plays defending 6A state champ Bishop Moore in one of Friday’s opening-pool play matches at 5 p.m. at the Orlando Sports Center (6700 Kingspointe Parkway).
The Lions and the Hornets were scheduled to play in September before that match that was wiped out by Hurricane Irma.
Admission is $10 per day.