Mater Lakes goes the distance, but falls short of first state volleyball championship

Mater Lakes will just have to grin and bear it for another year.

Mater Lakes came within a whisker of winning the Class 4A girls volleyball state championship – and its first girls state title in any sport – after dropping a 3-2 match to Orlando Bishop Moore at the FHSAA Finals Saturday at Polk State College.

“It was a great opportunity to be here but we had many missed opportunities,” junior setter Antonella Maldonado said. “We really wanted to win. We had it in us, but things happen.”

The Bears pushed Bishop Moore to the limit after dropping the first set 16-25 but responding to win the second set 25-23. From there, it was a nip-and-tuck volleyball war, with Bishop Moore taking two of the next three sets, 29-31, 25-20 and 15-13.

“The first set was tough because we weren’t ready for it. After that we started playing and it was a real competitive game.” Mater Lakes coach Emilio Urgell said. “It was really like who wanted it more. We won a couple of close sets and they won a couple of close sets, but in the end it was a close game, 15-13, as close as it gets.

“After the first set, we just wanted to compete. Second set, third set, we just fought. It was a close third set and it could have gone either way. We had a couple of opportunities to finish the set but we didn’t put them away. We pretty much controlled the fourth set and I thought we had the momentum going into the fifth, we just didn’t close and we had a couple of mistakes here and there.”

Mater Lakes freshman Alexa Torres led the Bears with 32 kills and 23 digs while senior Sydney Wilson racked up 26 kills and 35 digs through the five grueling sets.

Additionally, freshman Jennifer Ramirez had 16 kills and 19 digs, freshman Milana Correa had 11 kills and 11 digs, junior Sophia Bermudez scored 14 kills and senior Juliet Morillo finished with 10 kills.

“I think overall, we have improved and come a long way. We did give it our all,” junior libero Abbie Vazquez said.

A serving controversy broke out with Mater Lakes leading 19-17 in third set, which caused a stoppage in play and a long conversation with the officials, but the Bears won the squabble.

“They were out of rotation and we told the ref and got it,” Urgell said. “It took a while, and in the end they had to go by the book, and we ended up getting the point. But we were up in that set and we couldn’t put it away.”

Bishop Moore was the 3A state runner-up this past year, after dropping the title match to Gulliver Prep 3-1. Saturday, Bishop Moore was led by senior outside hitter Leah McDonald with 32 kills and 23 digs.