The Wekiva Mustangs stormed out of the gate in Tuesday night’s district matchup against Edgewater, taking the opening set behind sharp passing and balanced hitting. But after that, the Eagles flipped the momentum, capitalizing on Mustang errors and finding answers in key moments to close out a 3–1 win (20–25, 25–14, 25–15, 25–19). 

“We had too many errors,” Wekiva head coach Heather Lorenz said. “We had so many unforced errors, and that literally in itself destroyed the game for us. And I’m not taking anything away from Edgewater… we just didn’t come to play tonight.” 

Wekiva came out firing in the first set, led by the steady hands of setter Isabella Espada. The junior dished out 12 assists in the frame, spreading the ball to four different hitters. Elyanna Sanchez and Avianna Mater each delivered kills, while Sarai McFadden and Misha Mancilla added timely points. Espada even chipped in an ace, fueling a 21–15 lead that Wekiva rode to a 25–20 victory. 

The second set, however, told a different story. While Espada opened with another ace, Wekiva quickly fell into a pattern of miscues. Edgewater senior outside hitter Claire Appel took full advantage with a kill, then sparked a serving run that included four aces and stretched the lead to 21–8. Behind Appel’s aggressive play and freshman outside hitter Britton Wenhold’s timely kills, the Eagles cruised to a 25–14 win to even the match. 

Errors continued to haunt the Mustangs in set three. Miscommunication on defense and unforced mistakes left Wekiva in a 16–6 hole before McFadden and aces from Laura Sanz briefly sparked life with a small rally. But Wenhold slammed the door with back-to-back aces, giving Edgewater a 25–15 win and a 2–1 set advantage. 

The fourth set was much more sound for the Mustangs. Mancilla brought Wekiva within one point with back-to-back aces, and Sanchez added a well-placed kill to trim the deficit to 13–12.  

But each time Wekiva threatened, Edgewater responded. Junior setter Isiris Hannezo delivered two clutch kills down the stretch, while junior setter Ellie Smith controlled the offense spreading assists to everybody. Edgewater closed on a 9–5 run to seal the 25–19 victory and the match. 

After the match, Lorenz was straightforward with her team’s struggles. 

“I just feel like we were having issues getting our hitters to be active,” Lorenz said. “Not so much my defense—my defense was there, but their serves were kind of pushing us out of system.” 

Statistically, Espada paced Wekiva with 21 assists and 3 aces, while Sanchez tallied 10 kills. Mancilla added 4 kills and 4 aces, and McFadden chipped in key points throughout.  

For Edgewater, Appel finished with 4 kills and 5 aces. Wenhold led the team with 6 kills, freshman Finley Reinhert added 5, and Hannezo had 3 kills and 3 assists. Smith’s consistency at setter was pivotal, racking up 15 assists. 

The loss dropped Wekiva to 2-2 on the season, 0-1 in district. Wekiva will look to regroup in practice and clean up execution before returning to action next week, hitting the road to Longwood to face the Lyman Greyhounds at 6:30 p.m. Monday.