Oviedo rivals eye titles
Oviedo High School and Hagerty High sit less than six miles away from each other, sharing students who live in the same city.
Their girls volleyball teams, fierce rivals, will share state-championship aspirations this season even as they compete against each other for bragging rights and a Seminole Athletic Conference crown.
Oviedo is the team to beat in Florida’s Class 9A division, which West Orange won to complete a perfect 29-0 season in 2017. Hagerty is one of the favorites to win the 8A title.
PrepVolleyball.com ranked the Lions No. 1 and Huskies 2, in that order, in its preseason ranking of the top five teams in Florida. Lake Highland Prep, a 5A state runner-up last season, was No. 3 and West Orange No. 4 — giving Sentinel coveragearea teams a preseason sweep of the top four spots.
All of those teams will vie for berths in the Florida High School Athletic Association state finals, which moves to Fort Myers this year after one year in Jacksonville. The FHSAA announced Monday a threeyear agreement to hold the November volleyball championship matches at 3,500-seat Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of SouthWest Florida State College.
Oviedo lost to West Orange in a region final last season but returns five starters – including All-Area senior Savannah Vach and Lilly Gunter, a junior libero (defensive specialist).
Hagerty was 21-3 last season, losing twice to Oviedo and falling to Tallahassee Leon in a state semifinal. The Huskies also returned five of six starters, including 6-foot-3 All-Area senior Leandra Mangual, 6-3 junior Sydney Conley and 6-5 junior middle blocker Audrey Douglas. And they’ve added former Spruce Creek libero Haley Frank, an FSU commit, and setter Emily Lawrence, a UCF commit, to an extremely deep squad.
Oviedo plays at Hagerty on Sept. 6 and hosts the Huskies on Oct. 4 in SAC games.
West Orange graduated three starters and has a new coach in Roberto Santasofia. He replaces Ross Usie, who led the Warriors to a 100-14 record and four consecutive district titles since 2014.
Santasofia is coaching high school volleyball for the first time but he’s an accomplished club coach who directed the Orlando Tampa Volleyball Academy team that won the AAU 16 Open national championship this summer. West Orange junior Taylor Head was the MVP of that tournament for OTVA. The Warriors also return senior Torey Baum, a USC commit but have some holes to fill.
“To me it’s a challenge of course,” Santasofia said of taking over a program that was perfect leason. “What they accomplished last year, it’s huge. We all love to win and I think they’re some more lessons we can learn.”
Oviedo, Hagerty and West Orange will all fly to Phoenix, Ariz., to compete against national powers at the Nike Tournament of Champions Sept. 21-22.
Lake Highland also has a new head coach, former Highlanders standout Katie Gallagher. Her team is primed to make another run at the 5A title with junior standouts Cierra Jenkins and Lauren Gips and senior Grace Allen showing the way.
Trinity Prep, with outstanding senior outside hitter Samarah Hill leading a veteran team, hopes to challenge Lake Highland in district play. Former Lake Howell coach Terri Kruczek has taken over the volleyball program at Trinity Prep and has the hitters to build around. Her brother, former UCF coach Mike Kruczek, is head football coach for the Saints.
Bishop Moore was a surprise 6A state runner-up last season to continue its reign of success. The Hornets have a 263-47 record over 10 seasons with coach Tanya Jarvis Starrett and get a boost with the return of 6-3 senior Lauren Davis, who missed the 2017 season due to an ankle injury.
Geneva School was 2A state runner-up the past two seasons and a district champion in nine of the past 11 years.
Another team to watch is East Ridge, which went 23-3 a year ago and returned one of the area’s best players in 6-1 junior setter Naomi Cabello, a Texas commit. The stellar Class of 2020 also includes The First Academy’s Elli McKissock, a UF commit.
Winter Park was a district champ in its 18th season under coach Stephanie Gibson, who surpassed 400 wins with the Wildcats in last year’s 22-7 campaign. Gibson entered her 30th season as a head coach with a 732-185 career record, the leading wins total among active Florida volleyball coaches.
Lake Nona will challenge the Wildcats in district play with a squad short on seniors but long on promising players — including sophomore Yuliana Amador and junior Giselle Giraud. Timber Creek is also young but talented in balanced 9A, District 4.