Eighth time’s a charm? Perennial district champ Cooper City vying for deep playoff run
It’s déjà vu … times seven.
Cooper City has won seven district titles in nine years under girls’ volleyball coach Jill Smitherman. But in all seven of those years, Cooper City lost in the regional quarterfinals.
Last year, Smitherman said, was the most painful ending. Cooper City rallied from down two sets and led 13-11 in the fifth and deciding frame.
However, Hialeah Gardens won the next four points, ending Cooper City’s season in the same exact spot – the dreaded regional quarters.
“Match point was a great rally with save after save and great defense on both sides,” Smitherman said of the playoff game held at Cooper City. “The ball didn’t bounce our way, and that was the end.
“But it was the proudest loss in my 14-year coaching career. We had a huge crowd there, including half the fans coming from Hialeah Gardens. We had our football players there and our administrators.
“It was a great atmosphere.”
This year, Smitherman said she has her most talented team yet, which could result in Cooper City finally making a playoff run.
Natalie Villalon, a 6-0 junior, leads Cooper City and has drawn recruiting interest from Yale, Miami and FIU. She is so versatile that she could be a setter or an outside hitter at the next level.
With a 4.5 weighted grade-point average, Villalon should have no problem finding a college volleyball program.
“Natalie is highly talented and can play any position,” Smitherman said. “She’s competed at several camps. She has great reach. Her hands are gorgeous. At a big-time program, she could play defense because she covers a lot of ground.”
Cooper City has two other main offensive weapons at the net: 6-2 senior Jenna Heywang and 5-10 senior Mariana Comartin.
The setter is 5-5 senior Juliana Malena.
“She can run an offense like none other,” Smitherman said of Malena.
Sophomores Hannah Bruno and Lauren Sereda fill out Cooper City’s starting lineup, and 5-4 defensive specialist Samantha Carozzi is a bench player who doubles as the senior class valedictorian.
Cooper City’s schedule this year is more difficult than in the past, including a trip to play in the Lake Howell Invitational.
“I’m not concerned about our record,” Smitherman said. “My main concern is to schedule tougher so we can clear the regional quarterfinal hurdle.
“I think we have the whole package this year – height, skill, versatility and grit.”
Now all they have to do is avoid déjà vu.
A CHANGE AT WESTMINSTER
Westminster Academy, which struggled to a 6-15 record last year, has a new coach in Hannah Brenner, 30. Brenner, who is 5-foot-10, was a four-year starting center at Clemson. In 2016, the Ohio native moved to Miami for a sales job, and it wasn’t until last year that she got back into volleyball.
Brenner, who specializes in improving players’ vertical leaps, has an emerging team led by 6-4 junior middle blocker Adrian Bridges and 5-11 freshman outside hitter Jada Constanza. Both of them should be Division I signees, and Brenner noted that Bridges “blocked a ball with her elbows last week.”
Other notable players on the team are 5-7 sophomore outside hitter Nicole Dos Santos and 5-4 libero/setter Lea Miller.
THIS AND THAT
▪ Key dates - This week: Regular season matches began; Sept. 9-10: Chaminade Invitational; Oct. 7-8: Westminster Christian Invitational; Oct. 12-13: BCAA Big 8 tournament at Pompano Beach; Oct. 17-21: Districts; Oct. 24-28: Regionals begin; TBA: State championships.
▪ Tradition-rich Cardinal Gibbons graduated eight seniors from last year’s team, including star Dylan Andrews, who now plays for the Miami Hurricanes. Gibbons coach Kathryn Reeber, who led her squad to the regional finals last year, returns four starters: 6-0 junior middle blocker Teyhlor Thomas; 6-0 senior outside hitter Jessica Cinci; 5-11 junior outside hitter Fabiana Capone; and 6-2 senior middle blocker Loukia Papadakos. Among the returners, Cinci led Gibbons last year in kills (181), digs (205), aces (41) and service points (132).
▪ Archbishop McCarthy went 19-10 last year, winning its district and reaching the regional semifinals. The Mavericks return 5-8 senior outside hitter Celimar Hoyos, a first-team All-Broward star who was outstanding last season with 292 digs and 260 kills. She has scholarship offers from West Virginia, New Mexico State and Illinois-Chicago. In addition, the Mavericks boast 6-0 junior Isabela Rios, who is regarded by her coach, Omar Hoyos, as “one of the strongest right-side hitters in the state with a powerful arm and great blocking ability.”
▪ North Broward Prep went 11-11 last season and will be led by 5-10 senior middle hitter Cassidy Lehman and 5-5 junior libero Baylor Worley.
▪ American Heritage, which went 11-9 last year, is led by a core of seniors featuring 6-3 outside hitter Katie Denning, 5-8 setter Noelle Crichton, 6-2 middle hitter Nicole Barany and 5-9 outside hitter Cristina Lopez.
▪ Nova has 10 seniors on its squad, including Arielle Zephirin; Mya Simpson; Alexa Moore; and Madelyn Guise. Junior Hannah Adderly has been a leader since her freshman season, and junior Jaylin Garcia – just 5-foot-1 – is a standout libero.
Sagemont is coming off an 8-8 season and is led by 6-2 sophomore middle blocker Mya Rutherford.
▪ Chaminade-Madonna is coming off a 10-12 season and is led by sophomore 6-0 middle blocker Kendall Evans and seniors Luiza Zima, Emma Gulaskey and Sofia Silva.
▪ Pine Crest, which went 21-6 and reached the regional semifinals last year, returns freshman outside hitter Mia Gold.
▪ Calvary Christian will be guided on the sideline by first-year coach Leo Sousa, a former Brazilian indoor national team player. And on the court, the Eagles have senior setter Emily Navarro, senior outside Braelyn Mittauer and senior middle blocker Emma Kohlhepp leading the way.
This story was originally published August 22, 2022 at 8:00 AM.