Viera, Satellite win convincingly in volleyball regional quarterfinals

VIERA — In a battle of district champions, No. 4 seed Viera hosted No. 5 Lake Howell in the Class 5A, Region 2 quarterfinals.

The Hawks set the tone immediately and dominated the first and third sets. They fended off a late Lake Howell rally to win in four sets 25-13, 23-25, 25-10, 25-22 and advance to the regional semifinals.

“Really proud. That was a really tough team. They had some really good outside hitters. I’m really proud of my middles,” Viera head coach Sarah Wayne said. “It’s a really tough thing to do when teams just keep coming and keep attacking, for them just to stay disciplined and put up a good block I’m really proud of them.”

Hawks junior Emery Hart served the Viera into a 10-0 lead in the first set. She tallied three aces in the first eight points.

“It was fun. It was good,” Hart said. “I was happy that I was able to get our team going and get the momentum on our side.”

After falling just short in set two, Viera regrouped and began the third set on a 9-2 run. The Hawks ended the set on a 6-0 run that included three aces from Hart and a kill from sophomore Ava Sarratt.

In a tight fourth set, the Hawks went on a 6-1 run to bring up match point. Lake Howell saved five match points before a hit that landed wide ended the match.

“I’m just so happy. We just played so good as a team,” Hart said. “Everyone just worked so well together, our chemistry … we were backing each other up. We just kind of played so selfless and just played for each other.”

Viera was tasked to try to slow down Lake Howell’s dynamic pin hitter duo of seniors Gabriella Silva and Giana Pina, who combined for 40 of the team’s 47 kills. Wayne credited the play of Viera’s middles and the back row. The Silverhawks posted 20 attacking errors and the Hawks blocked six shots.

“Our back row did a good job of playing around. Our right side blockers set the ball well,” Wayne said. “Teams are going to get kills, but I’m proud of us making runs of points when we needed to do.”

Hawks junior Libby Williams served as a setter alongside senior Allie Brown and finished the match with two aces. She closed out the first set with back-to-back aces.

“She (Williams) did great,” Wayne said. “Her serves were fantastic and I thought she set a really good tempo. Both our setters did a good job.”

Hart is playing some of her best volleyball in the postseason. The junior recorded double-digit kills for the third-straight postseason match after going five matches without hitting that mark.

She exceeded 200 kills following the district tournament for the second year in a row. After serving 22 aces last season, Hart increased that total to 60 following this match.

“I’ve grown a lot this season and as a team we’ve grown a lot,” Hart said. “We’ve grown with each other and it’s been a great season.”

Hawks junior Addi Casey spiked 10 kills. Sarratt finished the match with seven kills. Senior Shaylee Wreggit finished with five kills and senior Brooke Pickel served four of the team’s 15 aces. The Hawks finished with 40 kills.

Viera’s core got a taste of the state playoffs when it got swept by No. 1 seed Bloomingdale in last year's regional quarterfinal. The Hawks have now won a state playoff match for the fifth time in the last six seasons.

“I feel like it gave us that grind that we wanted to advance this year after we didn’t last year,” Hart said. “I guess that gave us a chip on our shoulder that we’re coming for it this year.”

Viera moves on to regional semifinals to face No. 1 seed Osceola on Oct. 24. The Kowboys swept Melbourne to improve to 22-6 this season.

“We’ve kind of set the standard of moving onto regionals,” Wayne said. For them to just kind of know it’s the norm for us so they don’t have a lot of those nerves and hopefully we’ll be OK moving forward.”

Oct. 21 scores

Class 5A, Region 2

(1) Osceola def. (8) Melbourne 3-0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-12)

The Bulldogs’ season ends in the regional quarterfinals. They finished the season 15-8 and returned to the state playoffs after a one-year absence.

Melbourne graduates four seniors in Fey Fitzpatrick, Ansley Schack, Vivian Atchison and Maiya Jackson.