Wekiva volleyball gets back on track with a sweep

Wekiva volleyball found the rhythm it had been searching for. After entering the match at 1-4 following a difficult early-season stretch, the Mustangs put together one of their strongest performances of the season, sweeping Jones 25-15, 25-12, 25-17 at home Tuesday night. 

Wekiva overcame an uneven start before taking control behind dominant serving, including a 19-1 run in the second set. The Mustangs went the entire match without committing a single service error. 

For coach Heather Lorenz, the victory was a sign her team was beginning to look like itself again. 

“The biggest thing is both of my big players, my libero Mikayla, and my one outside hitter, Avianna, were back in with us this week,” Lorenz said. “So that was exciting and a great start to our week.” 

Jones opened with the first two points before Wekiva began settling in. The teams traded errors early, but Isabella Espada found Avianna Mater for a kill from the right side, and Mater followed with an ace to tie the set at 5. 

Jones briefly regained the advantage, but Wekiva answered behind kills from Ginia Reese and Elyanna Sanchez. 

Mater then fueled a three-point run with a booming kill before Espada found her twice more for kills, helping the Mustangs build a 14-9 lead. 

Wekiva maintained control down the stretch. Sanchez smashed a kill off the Jones block and added another to push the lead to 22-15. Reese followed with two kills from the middle before a Jones error sealed the 25-15 opening-set victory. 

The second set was where the Mustangs completely took over. 

Jones built an early 6-3 advantage, but Wekiva quickly flipped the momentum behind its serving. 

Mater delivered back-to-back aces to give Wekiva a 10-7 lead and continued to dominate from the service line. She added several more aces as the Mustangs continued pulling away. 

Leona Salasek joined the run with a kill pinned to the back line, while Sanchez added a spike and a solo kill as Wekiva built a commanding 18-7 advantage. 

Salasek later recorded another solo kill, as Wekiva scored 19 of the last 20 points to blow the set open at 22-7. 

Salasek and Sanchez tipped for a point and smashed another kill from the right side to finish the set, 25-12. 

Lorenz credited the Mustangs’ work from the service line for the massive momentum swing. 

“I feel like it was a lot more serving that gave us that run,” Lorenz said. “We were running on a good bunch of aces between Avianna and Elyanna at the serve line, and we’ve been working a lot on our serves.” 

Wekiva carried that momentum into the third set. 

Reese opened with a kill, followed by an Espada ace. Sanchez then delivered back-to-back aces during a run that gave the Mustangs a seven-point advantage. Mater added a drop-shot kill to extend the lead to 10-1. 

Jones fought back later in the set, but Wekiva remained in control. 

Destiny Rosado added an ace, while Sanchez repeatedly found success along the left side. Espada added another ace, and Mater sent a ball from deep that trickled over the net for another point. 

Jones eventually pulled closer, but the Mustangs regained control to finish the sweep. Sanchez delivered another ace before Rosado recorded the final kill in the 25-17 victory. 

Sanchez led Wekiva with 11 kills and three aces. Mater finished with seven kills and seven aces, while Reese added four kills. 

Espada paced the offense with 18 assists. 

Rosado was named player of the match after an outstanding defensive performance. Lorenz called it Rosado’s strongest match in four years, particularly for her ability to absorb and deflect hard incoming attacks. Rosado also added an ace and the match-winning kill. 

The Mustangs’ performance at the service line was especially encouraging for Lorenz. 

“Literally, we didn’t have any serving errors, which was wild, because we usually pick up quite a few,” Lorenz said. “So I’m really impressed with them tonight.” 

Lorenz said the win showed the Mustangs what they are capable of when they play with confidence and establish their identity. 

“We had a rough start. I feel like in that first set, we were very complacent, but then we came back and started feeling our own and getting back into who we truly are as a team,” Lorenz said. “It was really nice to see that tonight. Maybe with this performance, as we go forward, they’ll start to realize they truly are that strong.” 

Wekiva will look to carry that momentum into Thursday’s varsity-only home matchup against Evans at 6 p.m.