By WINTER HAVEN — Horizon High is only five years old, but the Hawks have grown up fast in volleyball.
Six months after their boys volleyball team made a run to the spring state championship game, the Horizon girls made school history Saturday night by claiming the FHSAA Class 6A state championship with a come-from-behind victory against top seed DeLand (28-4). That came one night after the Hawks (27-3) came back from a 3-0 deficit to win their semifinal match against Venice in five sets.
Horizon again started slowly Saturday, losing 25-16 in the first set. But the Hawks showed their talent, and more importantly, their determination with junior outside hitter Elena White crushing kills all night as the Hawks won the next three games 25-19, 25-20, 25-20 at Polk State College to close their season on an 11-match winning streak.
“DeLand is talented. They had us concerned, but you know, we had Elena White,” Horizon coach Ernest Rittenhouse said. “It’s great when you have players that can step up in big moments.
The Bulldogs reached the final on an eight match win streak and moved up to No. 4 in the state for all classes in rankings MaxPreps posted Thursday, with three regional wins included. Horizon was No. 13 on that list. But the Hawks didn’t blink after the first set loss and proved they were under-rated.
“You weather the storm. We were able to turn the momentum around,” Rittenhouse said.
White ripped 27 kills and was almost unstoppable in key stretches. She added 8 digs and afterward credited her setter, Ariana Delgado, and the rest of her squad. Delgado, a junior, delivered 49 assists.
“I’m so grateful for everybody on my team,” White said. “We just had max energy, full effort (after the first set).”
Kenzie Vazquez, a senior Libero, contributed 20 digs as Horizon stifled DeLand’s offense most of the way. Vazquez racked up 34 digs in the semifinal victory and said
Maria Matos, a junior, had 10 kills, 5 digs and 2 aces.
Kamila Aguilar, a senior, had 10 kills
Zoey Hoffman, another senior, had 3 ace serves.
The Hawks played three seniors, four juniors and a sophomore against a DeLand team that also relied heavily on underclass girls.
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Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/horizon-beats-deland-6a-volleyball-011600478.html
