- December 4, 2025
-
-
Loading
Loading
With three talented seniors leading the team, the time is now for the Lakewood Ranch High girls volleyball team to add some titles to its trophy case.
The Mustang players said they had a subpar effort in a district championship loss to Parrish Community last season and they've spent the off-season feeling they let themselves down.
This time around, the team’s top seniors — Ava Collins, Kora Yanes and Julia Vendramini — are setting out to play each match as if it’s their last.
Lakewood Ranch High Coach Jessica Leupold is hoping for a very special year.
The fourth-year coach has had this group for all four years of their high school careers and has watched them improve.
Following a 7-16 season in 2023, Lakewood Ranch improved to 15-9 last fall, but fell flat in the postseason in a 3-1 district final loss to Parrish and a 3-0 regional quarterfinal loss to Charlotte.
“It’s a bit of a sore subject for the girls, and rightfully so,” Leupold said of the district championship loss. “They said, ‘We’ve learned from the past and we’re not making our same mistakes again.’ We were not communicating and we were not covering when we played them in the district championship.
“We went into it with the wrong mentality," Leupold said. "This time, that mentality of ‘We don’t have to work as hard as we should,’ hasn’t shown yet. Every day, they’re in here working super hard, and that’s a strong point for them.”
Though Collins, Yanes and Vendramini are talented players with college potential, only Yanes has considered playing at the collegiate level.
Collins and Yanes are the team’s outside hitters who can put away matches.
Last season, Collins and Yanes were the Mustangs’ only two players with 65 kills or more, and they’ll be relied upon to have a repeat performance.
Setting them up is Vendramini, who has developed a close relationship with her two hitters over the past four years.
“I can give Ava literally anything, a high ball, a low ball, and she can put it down,” Vendramini said. “Kora is versatile with where she can place the ball. Her set might need to be a little more on-point, but she can put it wherever she wants on the court.”
Beyond the stats, the time this team has spent together has started to have an effect.
Bonding moments — through long practices, team camps, hard-fought wins and emotional losses — have brought the players together, and made it easy for them to welcome newcomers.
Lakewood Ranch added a pair of transfer players, sophomore Adalynn Lund from Wisconsin and Lylah Hatfield, a local home-schooled student.
The team went to a camp at the University of Florida this summer and spent every minute with each other, from breakfasts and lunches and on-court training to hanging out in each other’s dorms in the down time.
“They’re amazing people and they meshed well with everyone,” Yanes said of the new players. “We’re a very welcoming group, so we’re all good friends now. No one is singled out.”
Leupold said that on-and-off-court chemistry has shown in practice, and has surprised even her.
That has led her to believe that this year’s group can be “great,” which to Leupold means winning a district championship and making it deep into the regional tournament.
“The chemistry the girls have is beyond anything I’ve experienced,” Leupold said. “They are one. They are in tune on and off the court, which makes the team that much better.”
The Mustangs will have a chance to show their potential early.
Lakewood Ranch will host Parrish in a rematch of last year’s district final in the season opener Aug. 19.
