The West Orange Warriors (4-5) swept Apopka Tuesday night, defeating the Blue Darters (2-7) in straight sets (25-14, 25-20, 25-12).  

Despite moments of energy from Apopka, West Orange’s balance at the net and the setting-attack connection of cousins Alexa and Avery Valentine proved too powerful for Apopka. 

Apopka head coach Brian Mater pointed to his team’s blocking struggles as a key factor in the result. 

“Coach Sarah [Egbers] and I both said the same thing: we needed to get the block on the girls,” Mater said. “We’re still not moving our feet. We limited our errors, but they killed us on blocks. We just could not get our blocks down at all. Just the motivation on the team has to come alive.”

The Blue Darters opened with momentum when senior middle blocker Madeline Sherrer stuffed a block for the first point.  

But the Warriors quickly responded through Cassidy Flakes, who followed with a kill and a block to settle West Orange in. From there, setter Alexa Valentine began to establish her rhythm, repeatedly finding Avery on the outside. 

Apopka briefly took a 7-6 lead thanks to two service aces from Anais Ruiz, but then West Orange put together the first extended run of the match.  

Alexa spread the offense to Flakes and Jaylyn Burke while Avery hammered kills from the left side to build a 13-9 lead. That cushion grew to 15-10 before Apopka called timeout.  

Out of the break, sophomore setter Juju Blesso provided a spark for the Warriors, assisting Kennedy Walker on three quick kills as West Orange rolled to a 25-14 first set win. Avery tallied six kills in the opening frame, while Alexa dished out eight assists. 

The second set started with a kill from Apopka’s Daylen Hilliman, but the Warriors quickly seized momentum with a 7-2 run. Apopka stayed in it by capitalizing on a series of Warrior errors, pulling even at 9-9.  

Back-to-back kills from Marie Hughes and Victoria Polusmak gave the Blue Darters a lead at 12-11, but West Orange closed strong. Burke and Flakes controlled the net while Avery continued to swing efficiently, and the Warriors held on for a 25-20 win and a 2-0 advantage. 

The third set was all West Orange. Hughes briefly kept Apopka within reach with a kill and an ace to make it 6-5, but Avery Valentine responded with three straight kills, sparking a 9-5 lead.  

From there, Apopka never recovered. The Warriors swarmed the net, forcing hitting errors then capping it off with an ace from Julianna Pelletier to end the match 25-12. 

Statistically, West Orange’s attack dominated with 36 team kills. Avery led the way with 18 kills, while Burke added five and Flakes chipped in three kills and three blocks. Alexa Valentine directed the offense with 25 assists and added digs across the back row. 

Apopka’s production was more spread out. Hughes recorded five kills and 4 aces to pace the offense, while Hilliman contributed three kills and three blocks. Sherrer added two kills, two blocks, and an ace, and Cain finished with 12 assists. Chloe Palmer chipped in two kills when she checked in late in the third set and Sydney Bartkin had 9 digs. 

Mater said his team needed confidence, noting that records and statistics sometimes weigh on his players. 

“A lot of these girls go and look at MaxPreps, and as soon as they start seeing records, they already come in and feel beat,” Mater said. “That happened with our JV, and I believe it carried over into our varsity girls as well.” 

Looking ahead to the Metro West Conference Tournament, which runs from Sept. 18 to 20, Mater said defense and mental toughness will be the focus. 

“We worked on defense all day yesterday,” he said. “But the problem was their downballs were so powerful because we were not able to slow the ball down by getting a block. So we need to go back to square one.” 

Apopka entered the Metro West Conference tournament bracket as the No. 8 seed and opened against cross-town rival Wekiva, the No. 9 seed, Thursday at Edgewater High School. At press time, the scores for the match were not yet available, but check online at theapopkachief.com for the latest tournament results. Their next scheduled game is 6:30 p.m. Thursday, September 25^th at Jones high school.