By Marshall Tempest
Reporter
The Apopka volleyball team dominated the Ocoee Knights in three straight sets during senior night this week. With the win, the Blue Darters snapped a six-game losing streak, moving to 5-11 and ranked 100th in the state, according to MaxPreps.
The Blue Darters made quick work of the Ocoee Knights, with their seniors handling the floor all night. Apopka has eight seniors: Logan Rogers, Victor Parra-Ramirez, Jahn Carlos Gonzalez, Luis Lora, Carter White, Luis Rivera Agosto, Holden Powell and Aaron Hernandez. Apopka won the first set 25-18, the second 25-13 and the third 24-17.
“The seniors played really well,” head coach Brian Mater said. “They stayed in for nearly the whole game, and we had around four players that never played on the floor.”
Mater said he hopes the win gave his seniors some valuable playing time before the district tournament next week. He said he saw the bench come alive a little bit more in this win than normal, which gave him some hope going into the tournament. Mater said they need that kind of energy on the bench to keep the guys’ morale up on the floor.
“We had guys that normally start on the bench, and guys normally on the bench starting,” Mater said. “The boys were still having fun with it, supporting their teammates.”
After snapping the six-game losing streak with the win over Ocoee, Mater told me it was time for the team to get back to what they should be. Last year, the team finished the season with a 23-5 record, a district championship, and a trip to the state championship tournament.
At the beginning of the season, Mater said he and the team had even bigger dreams for this season than last year. But plans and dreams don’t always work out, with Apopka sliding to 5-11 this year at the end of the season. 
“I hate losing,” Mater said. “I didn’t have expectations of this team losing at all this year. We still get to compete in districts and have a chance for a title. We’ll get something going there, and we can kind of regroup.”
Mater and the team don’t believe their record accurately reflects their abilities on the court. He said avoiding mistakes would make the squad a state tournament-caliber team.
“We’ve just got to limit our errors,” Mater said. “Our errors killed us this season – with hitting out of bounds, over and over and over, serves just absolutely destroyed us as a team. We’ve just got to build confidence. I feel like that that’s coming. But with two new coaches coming into this program and rebuilding – We’ve got to get some wins under the belt. We’ve got to build the foundation.”
After the win over Ocoee, Apopka hosts its final game of the regular season on Tuesday, against the Sanford Seminoles. Sanford has a 10-13 record this season, is ranked 107th in the state, and just snapped its own losing streak. A win over Sanford would be important for the Blue Darters before they head into the Class 3A District 4 Tournament.
A look at the district tournament
As of Monday, April 22, Apopka sits third in Class 3A District 4, below the Windermere Wolverines and the West Orange Warriors but above Ocoee and Evans. In the district tournament, the top three seeds have first-round byes, while the four and five seed will face off.
If the district standings stay where they are now, Apopka would get a first-round bye as the third seed and have to face the two-seed in the second round, West Orange. West Orange has a chance to overtake Windermere in the district standings based on season record. West Orange has an 18-3 season record, is 2-1 in district matchups and is ranked 27th in the state. Windermere has a 13-11 record, is 3-1 in district matchups and is ranked 59th in the state.
If West Orange ends the season as the one seed, then Apopka would face Windermere in the second round of the district tournament. Apopka has faced West Orange once and Windermere twice this year, losing all three contests. In their matchup against the Warriors, the Blue Darters fell 3-2 in a very tight game, and Apopka almost stole the win. In the matchups with the Wolverines, Apopka lost 3-0 and 2-1.
Even though West Orange is the better team on paper, the Bue Darters have shown they can compete against the Warriors, unlike against Windermere.
“We played West Orange a couple of weeks ago in the metro tournament,” Mater said. “Yeah, that night we had 22 errors, and we ended up losing by three or four that set. We went into our second set, limited our errors, and were within two points. The next set after that, we were within two points again. So, if we can limit our errors, we could be competitive, and that’s what it takes.”
Mater said he is trying to impress upon his team the importance of going for the easy points. He said not every play needs to be a highlight real slam dunk, even though it’s much more fun that way for his players. He likened it to taking a free layup during a fast break instead of stooping at the three-point line to jack up a deep shot.
“If we can limit our errors and play together as a group, we can be great,” Mater said. “My favorite thing I tell my freshman girls or when I was coaching our juniors is, ‘If we play together, we’ll win. When we come to practice, there shouldn’t be a difference between who is starting and who is not. We should be one team, all united together, and if we can play together, we’ll win together without limiting each other.'”
