Winter Park boys volleyball ranked
The Winter Park boys volleyball team jumped into the national top 25 rankings after overcoming Freedom in last Saturday’s all-Orange County state championship match in South Florida.
The Wildcats, who finished 28-2 with an 8-0 postseason run, are ranked No. 18 in this week’s USA Today/American Volleyball Coaches Association boys volleyball Super 25. Freedom (29-4) also is ranked at No. 25.
The South Region rankings have Winter Park and Freedom in the 1-2 slots, followed by Lake Mary (27-2), which lost a marathon five-set state semifinal against Freedom.
The Florida High School Athletic Association state final went the distance with Winter Park winning the first two sets and then having to stave off a Patriots comeback to win 25-23, 25-23, 16-25, 22-25, 15-10 at Archbishop McCarthy High School. The victory marked the first boys volleyball state championship for Winter Park, which has now won state titles in 14 different FHSAA sanctioned sports.
Winter Park’s senior standout, Ryan Peluso, the Orlando Sentinel Player of the Year in 2021, did it all in the final, with 30 kills, 24 assists, 12 digs and 2 ace serves.
Robert Colado, a junior, delivered 15 kills, 29 assists and 10 digs.
Andrew Webb, a senior, had 11 kills and Ketcher Stewart, a junior, contributed 10. Senior defensive specialist Dylan Clunan added 14 digs.
Winter Park is 60-3 over the past three seasons under coach Jesse Day — including 6-0 in the 2020 season, which was shortened by the COVID-19 outbreak, and 26-1 in 2021. All three losses were to Freedom, which won the past two state titles in 2019 and 2021.
On to college: Cameron Stevens, a fixture in Timber Creek’s athletic department for better than a decade, is leaving his high school alma mater to move to North Carolina and become an assistant on High Point University’s women’s volleyball coaching staff.
Stevens, a 2007 Timber Creek grad, had been a volunteer assistant for UCF volleyball for the past four years while teaching and coaching at Timber Creek.
He compiled a 188-65 record as the boys volleyball coach (2012-22), capping that tenure with a district title this spring. He was 83-31-17 as girls soccer head coach (2012-19) and 88-75 coaching girls volleyball (2012-19) with regional playoff appearances in six of those seven seasons.
Stevens played soccer, football and volleyball for the Wolves and went on to be a four-time all-conference football kicker for the University of Findlay.
Dairy Farmers honors: Lake Nona’s unbeaten state champion girls water polo swept the Florida Dairy Farmers player and coach of the year awards.
Emily Scheerer, a junior who led the Lions with 107 goals, 26 assists and 21 steals, earned the Miss Water Polo honor.
Alex Bennett, who coached the Lions to a 26-0 season and repeat state title, was named coach of the year. His teams have won 51 consecutive matches dating to the 2020 season that was halted by COVID.
Lake Nona coach Tom Beard won the Dairy Farmers boys tennis coach of the year award. The 4A state champ Lions went 26-0 in dual matches and became the first Orlando area public school to win a boys tennis title since 1996 with a dramatic victory against Miami Palmetto.
Family ties: It runs in the family for Trinity Prep freshman phenom Victoria Hill, who won 2A state titles in the long jump with a 19-foot leap and triple jump with a 38-10½ mark last week.
Her father, Sam Hill, high jumped 7-2 ½ as a New Smyrna Beach High School senior in 1992 to set a Florida record that still stands.
Victoria’s big sister, Samarah, was a track standout and now plays volleyball for LSU. Making a move: Dynamic basketball guard Jaylen Smith announced on social media that he is leaving Edgewater to play for independent Orlando power West Oaks Academy as a senior. Smith averaged 19.1 points, 3.2 assists and 2.3 steals as a junior for Edgewater (14-14) last season.