Southwest ends long state title drought in boys’ volleyball with convincing victories

Not only did Southwest win a state championship, but the Eagles did it in dominating fashion.

Southwest downed Cardinal Gibbons 3-1 Saturday night at Polk State College to capture its third FHSAA boys volleyball state title, joining Orlando Bishop Moore as the only two programs with three state championships.

“I have no words for it but we are just enjoying this one right now,” said Southwest coach Joshua Perez, who is in his first season coaching the team. “It’s pretty special.”

Southwest posted a 9-1 mark at the state tournament, sweeping Hialeah Gardens 3-0 on Friday in the regional final and then sweeping The King’s Academy Saturday morning in the state semifinal.

“The key to the 9-1 was we were battle tested all season long,” said Perez, whose team finished 28-2 on the season. “There is not really much that can be thrown at us. Our strength of schedule is pretty high. We’ve seen a lot of good teams throughout the entire season and it helped mold us and shape us.”

Cardinal Gibbons had beaten Southwest during the regular season but Perez said several changes had taken place since that game.

“We are running a completely different lineup now and it is tailored to weather any storm that we see,” Perez said. “We had to run through a bunch of different lineups and step up in different scenarios in different games, but we finally got our full lineup together towards the end heading into the playoffs and everyone was ready.”

Southwest took the first game 25-22 but Cardinal Gibbons didn’t flinch and rebounded with a 25-23 win to knot the match 1-1. From there, it was all Southwest, winning the next two games 25-19 and 25-14.

Southwest was paced by Juanmarco Diaz, who delivered 12 kills, eight digs and three blocks in the championship match. Andrew Ovalle added 10 kills and seven digs while Mitchel DeLeon had eight kills.

“We are just family and family is what makes us thrive,” said Southwest senior Alejandro Leon, who is committed to Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina.

Cardinal Gibbons was led by Logan Keothavy with 17 kills while Thiago Zamprogno had 13 and Daniel Sappia delivered 12.

“Southwest has been the No. 1 team in the state for a while so they are well deserving,” Cardinal Gibbons coach Mike Zarate said. ”We played a lot of sets this weekend but I can’t use that as an excuse. Southwest is just a really good team.

“I tried to change the mindset today but I think nerves played a factor today. I think our guys gave it everything they had today and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”

Southwest’s previous two state championships included the first tournament sanctioned by the FHSAA in 2003 and the second in 2008. Southwest was also the state runners-up in 2009, 2010, 2019 and 2021.

Against The King’s Academy in the first semifinals, Southwest won 25-23, 25-20 and 25-23. Diaz delivered 12 kills, seven digs and two blocks while Marlon Albornoz dished out 11 kills, four digs and one block in the win.

Cardinals Gibbons won the first two games, 25-23 and 25-14, in its semifinals against defending state champions Winter Park, but then watched its momentum slip away, dropping the next two games 25-23 and 25-22, before advancing to the title game with a 15-10 win in Game 5.

Sappia led Cardinal Gibbons with 14 kills and 12 digs during the semifinals win. Keothavy added 13 kills, eight digs and two aces.

Cardinal Gibbons won two state championships, the first in 2005 and then second in 2018. The latter under Mike Zarate.

This story was originally published May 20, 2023 at 10:57 PM.