High School Sports

Winter Park Volleyball Club girls claim historic AAU Nationals championship

by Thomas Adams
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Amber McClain demonstrated the Winter Park Volleyball Club 17Armour Black team’s unwavering (and risky) determination to win a national title for the first time during the championship match of the AAU Girls Junior National Volleyball Championships when she dove face-first into an aluminum bleacher to save one point.

When the rising senior from Winter Park High jumped over a soft, padded barrier to punch the ball back into the court before colliding with the bottom-row seats, the spectators in the stands gasped. She didn’t cry. She continued. At the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, she bounced back up onto her feet and scampered back onto the court to assist in finishing the point before stumbling to the bench to receive attention from an athletic trainer.

“I just wanted to make sure the point was conveyed,” McClain remarked afterwards. and maintaining our chances of winning the national championship.

The mission has been completed.

When McClain came back to play, she was wearing a bandage across her forehead from a combat wound. As one of the ten girls on the WPVCs17 OpenAAU title team, she donned a broad smile and went on to win a gold medal.

When McClain made her crash landing in the second set, Winter Park was ahead 17–12. On Tuesday, WVCA defeated Far Out 17 of Grand Rapids, Michigan, 25-21, 25-20. For a club founded in 2011 as a younger sister to well-established travel team programs in the Orlando area, including Orlando Tampa Volleyball Academy, Top Select, and Game Point Volleyball, that won the first AAU girls Open division title.

WPVC made history by going 11-0 over four days with five players from the Winter Park High team that took home the Class 7A state title in November.

After falling behind 7–4 in Game 2, WPVC rallied thanks in part to McClain’s daring dive. Amelia Mancino of Winter Park High started the comeback by scoring six service points, three of which came from ace serves and three from attacks by Isabella Umpierre, another noteworthy player for WPHS.

After the final game, Umpierre remarked, “We came in wanting to win it all, and this is the moment we’ve all been waiting for.”

The WPVC team defeated Illini Elite of Illinois 2-0 to open the game Tuesday. They then defeated perennial power Sports Performance of Illinois in a thrilling semifinal match, 25-23, 26-24. Before falling victim to WPVC’s tenacity, SPVB (11-1) had significant leads in both sets.

After falling behind 14-6 in the opening set, the Winter Park club went on a 9-1 run that saw killers McClain and deadly lefthander Umpierre off sets by Elle Mottola (Boone), as well as a stuff block by Katelyn Landis (West Orange High).

Sports Performance regained the lead after two significant blocks, 22–20. Once more, WPVC had the solution. Mancino (Winter Park) finished the game with a kill, McClain scored on a fast set by Mottola, and Paige Lehman (Winter Park) dove for two digs that resulted in a kill by Umpierre.

After falling behind 15–10 in the second set, WPVC rallied to knot the score at 21–21 and took a 23–22 lead thanks to a block from Maddey Cruse (Lake Mary Prep). Umpierre, a 5-foot-10 batter, delivered a forceful stuff-block to end Winter Park’s title drive after a Mancino dig forced an SPVB error for a 24–22 edge.

Mancino, Mottola, and Umpierre were chosen for the 14-player tournament All-American squad.

We are a family. “It’s incredible that we can do this together,” Mottola added.

Like Lehman and Mancino, she joined WPVC as a 10-and-under player. As the program’s growth continued, more people joined.

Along with Gwenyth Berry (Horizon) and Cassidy Flakes (West Orange), Isabel Bertelsen (Winter Park), a defensive specialist, and Landis came off the bench first.

Winter Park advances to the 7A girls volleyball final after defeating Kissimmee Osceola.

Berry (Citadel), Bertelsen (Oregon State), Cruse (Embry-Riddle), Mancino (Appalachian State), Mottola (Arizona State), and Umpierre (UC-Davis) are among the WPVC players that have committed to colleges.

WPVC won the title by defeating teams with higher-rated prospects. They accomplished the same thing in April when they won a USA Volleyball 17 Open qualifying tournament in Salt Lake City, which Jackson said was a major accomplishment. The USA Volleyball 17 Open national tournament will be place in Dallas from Monday until July 3.

With a 9-2 record, the WPVC 16 Armour Black team was tied for sixth place in the AAU 16 Open division. A defensive standout for Winter Park High going into her junior year, Jordyn Lehman was selected to the All-American team.

Matthew Jackson, the head coach of both the 16s and 17s, stated that both of these teams have solidified WPVC’s history. They enjoy competing. And it’s amazing to see how they’ve supported one another throughout the years.

Jackson, who has been the head coach at West Orange for the last two seasons and was a former Ocoee high school player, is leaving the Warriors and WPVC, where he has been since 2014. He was hired as Michigan State’s assistant coach on July 7 after leading West Orange to a 16-5 district title season.

Wylie Devlin, his top assistant, was a multi-sport standout at Winter Park High and a collegiate volleyball player at USF.

In the 17 Open bracket, the Game Point 17 Rox team finished 10-1 and tied for sixth place. Its only defeat came in a quarterfinal matchup with Far Out, 25-21, 17-25, 15-9. As standouts for the GP team led by Sindee Snow, Kissimmee Osceola teammates Jordin Southall and Cate Palmi joined Innovation’s Aylani Correa.

Boys’ competition at the 52nd AAU nationals will resume on Monday and last through July 7. One of the favorites in the 17 Open tournament (Monday through July 3) is the WPVC 17 Armour Black guys.

Varsity Weekly: Winter Park Volleyball Club aims for an unprecedented AAU Nationals title

Buddy Collings, varsity content editor, may be reached by email at [email protected].

Thomas Adams

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