Winter Park’s girls volleyball team stamped itself as a bonafide state championship contender by rallying from two sets down to win a rousing neutral-court match against previously unbeaten reigning state champ Tampa Plant on Saturday.
Senior setter Tyler Peluso delivered 42 assists and 14 digs and surpassed 2,000 career assists for the Wildcats (21-1) in a 21-25, 24-26, 25-17, 25-18, 15-13 victory vs. the Panthers (16-1) in a matchup of Florida’s two top-ranked teams .
Peluso has 2,060 assists in three seasons at Winter Park. Her career total is 2,764 counting her eighth grade and freshman years at Windermere Prep.
Amelia Mancino had 23 kills, Isa Umpierre had 14 kills and 3 blocks and Paige Lehman contributed 30 digs in the second match of a tripleheader hosted by Hagerty.
“We made a few defensive adjustments, found a rhythm offensively and served aggressively,” Winter Park coach Stephanie Gibson said. “The girls just continued to compete and found a way to win.”
Plant stayed atop the MaxPreps Florida state rankings, with Winter Park holding at No. 2. If both manage to get through district, region and state semifinal matches they’ll meet again in the Class 7A state final at Polk State College in Winter Haven on Nov. 9. That would be a rematch of the 2023 final won by the Panthers.
Winter Park took a 30-minute break before following up with a 25-10, 25-15, 25-20 win against Hagerty (11-8), a District 4 rival.
The threat of Hurricane Milton wiped out Winter Park’s final three regular season games.
The FHSAA has reached out to volleyball advisory committee coaches to discuss backup plans if Hurricane Milton’s impact disrupts district playoffs next week.
Cross country
Hagerty won the FLRunners.com Invitational Race of Champions in dramatic fashion. The Huskies and Cambridge, Ga., tied with 82 points based on their first five finishers.
Hagerty won the tiebreaker when sixth man Alex Zimmerman crossed the finish line 5 seconds ahead of Cambridge’s last runner. He and Alexavier Davis-Medina passed runners down the stretch to push their team over the top.
Huskies coach Jay Getty said strong leadership and teamwork have been the secret to his team’s success — five victories in five meets.
Senior standout Jacob Leon led Hagerty with a 16:17.24 time that was good for seventh place, followed by Connor Stromberg (senior), Noah Mott (junior), Ricardo Hernandez (junior) and Davis-Medina (junior). Just one minute and one second separated Leon from the Huskies’ fifth scorer. At the Hagerty Invitational only 54 seconds separated the scorers.
Hagerty’s trip to Tallahassee for Saturday’s FSU Invitational is pending Hurricane Milton developments.
East Ridge sophomore Axel Sallault was the top area FLrunners finisher at 16:06.59.
Two eighth graders dominated the girls Race of Champions. Lake Highland Prep’s Annabella Tomasic ran 18:21.21 to place second behind Avery Hartley (18:11.23), who is undefeated this season for Cornerstone Classical Academy of Jacksonville.
Tavares sophomore Cheyenne Thomas had the fourth fastest time of the day at 18:41.05.
East Ridge placed third, Lake Minneola was fifth and Tavares took sixth in a team race won by Fort Lauderdale Dillard.
Boone’s girls dominated the Metro East Conference meet with five of the top 12 runners and 31 points. Arabella Duffell of second-place Lake Nona was the first girl to the finish line (18:41.2), followed by Boone’s Layla Sahaydak (19:04.7).
Boone’s boys also won, ahead of Lake Nona. Oak Ridge senior Jayden Santos-Gonzalez was the individual winner at 15:35.9.
Horizon won the girls Harmony Longhorn Invitational, with individual winner Abigayle White leading the way.
Golf notes
The First Academy shot 293-295—588 for fourth place as the top Orlando team in the Qdoba Tournament of Champions at Providence Golf Club. Circle Christian was next at 297-293—590.
Fleming Island, ranked No. 1 in 2A, scored back-to-back 278 rounds for a winning 20-under-par 556 total.
Circle Christian teammates Dylan Kotes (71-72—143) and Luke Gossett (73-70—143) tied for 10th as the leading area golfers.
Windermere High shot 297 in a rare best-ball format to place second to Miami Columbus (291) at the Vero Beach Fighting Indians Invitational. Lake Mary was seventh at 299. St. Cloud teammates Dominick Velazquez and Ethan Parish joined Avery Liu of Windermere and Phoenix Wilson of Lake Mary as the top area placers with 75s that tied for sixth.
Lake Mary junior Ryleigh Knaub shot 31 for 9 holes in a Rams victory at par-35 Heathrow Country Club.
Shawn Coultoff shot 33 at par-36 Stoneybrook West Golf Club for West Orange.
Winter Park edged Windermere 145-146 in a Monday boys match.
Extra points
• Melbourne is celebrating its 100th season of football. A Tuesday night game at Lyman (2-4) marks the 1,000th game in Bulldogs (4-3) history.
• Jack Powell bowled a 513 two-game series for Crooms Academy in a win against Seminole.
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
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