Lakewood Ranch volleyball team makes history

SEMINOLE — Green championship banners hang from the rafters in the Lakewood Ranch High gymnasium, painting a silent picture of the Mustangs numerous athletic accomplishments.

Some are filled with championship seasons while a select few remain blank — void of any district, regional or state titles.

Volleyball was one of them. The program had never won a district title — let alone advanced to the regional tournament.

Until now.

On Oct. 27, the top-seeded Lady Mustangs made school history, defeating second-seeded Seminole Osceola 3-1 to capture Lakewood’s first district title. Lakewood defeated the host Warriors 19-25, 25-23, 25-12, 25-20.

“It is so exciting,” senior Quillan Toler said. “Coming here and being the first — it’s unbelievable. It’s really, really cool. We worked really hard this season. But for the most part it’s just unbelievable. That’s all I can say. To be the very first one … I can’t even describe it. It’s so awesome.”

Sophomore setter Ali Milbourn agreed.

“It means a lot; It’s very exciting,” she said. “We worked very hard for it. It’s definitely a bittersweet feeling. You think winning a district championship is nothing, but when you (finally) get there, it’s awesome.”

Lakewood finished the regular season a perfect 5-0, winning the regular season district championship. But it was a district tournament championship and a trip to the regional tournament that the Lady Mustangs had been working towards all season.

And in the days leading up to the district semifinals and championship, the Lady Mustangs made it a point to look up at their blank banner and reiterate to one another how this would be the year a district title would finally be added to the banner.

“Everyone’s been talking about the banner and how it’s going to be ours; and we’ll be able to come back and look at it,” Toler said. “So it’s really cool to be able to make it real.”

The Lady Mustangs got off to a slow start, falling behind 4-11 at one point in Game 1. The girls rallied to tie the game at 15-15 before Seminole Osceola pulled away down the stretch.

“We weren’t playing well at all in the first game,” coach Perri Hankins said. “We just made a lot of mistakes. It’s a big game. They were excited. Some of the mistakes were nerves and some of it was being pumped up and wanting it too much.”

Lakewood found itself trailing 4-11 again in Game 2 before once again tying the game at 15-15 and eventually edging past the Warriors.

“Osceola was playing so well,” Hankins said. “They were really playing errorless. In the second game, I told them they’re not going to be able to keep playing as well as they are right now. I just said to our team, ‘We just need to play a little bit better, they’ll come down, and then we’ll pass them up and get going.’ And that’s when everything just changed around. I think they kind of relaxed at that point.”

In Game 3, the Lady Mustangs finally found their rhythm, taking control of the match. Holding onto a 15-12 lead, Lakewood scored 10 unanswered points behind the serving of junior Mariah Robertson.

Filled with momentum, Lakewood took the lead early in Game 4 and never relinquished it on its way to capturing the district title.

Robertson finished with 21 kills, 12 digs, four aces and two blocks to lead the way for Lakewood. Sophomore Ashlyn Falahee had 17 kills, and senior Shelby Walker finished with 10 kills and seven blocks. Milbourn added 48 assists and two aces to help power the Lady Mustangs.

“We have such a good group of players that play well together; and I can get different people in at different spots and they play at the same level,” Hankins said.

With the win, Lakewood played host to District 11 runner-up Tampa King Nov. 2 in a Class 6A-Region 3 quarterfinal, marking the first time the Lady Mustangs have both played in and hosted a regional tournament match.

“It’ll be really awesome,” Toler said. “Obviously, we want to get farther and keep winning, but mostly, we just need to stay focused in practice. A lot of times, it’s hard for our team to stay focused. We get so many things going on at once, but when we stay focused and start working on our game plan, then we’re unstoppable.”

For complete results on Lakewood’s regional quarterfinal match, be sure to check YourObserver.com.

Contact Jen Blanco at [email protected].