Storm hosts Horizon in regional final Tuesday
Although it was a straight set win over No. 3 ranked Dr. Phillips, Celebration head coach Pedro Davila was not particularly enthused about his team’s 25-18, 25-14, 25-20 victory in Friday’s Region 3 boys volleyball semifinal.
The Storm (20-9) will host Winter Garden Horizon (17-9) in the regional final Tuesday at 7 p.m., and the winner advances to the FHSAA state tournament at Polk State College in Winter Haven May 19-20. Celebration (No. 2) is the highest-ranking team remaining in Region 3
“We played okay and took we certainly took care of our business, but we were lacking some intensity—almost like we were just going through the motions,” Davila said about the Storm (20-9), who will now host Horizon in a regional final. “Part of it may have been due to Dr. Phillips not playing particularly well but I just didn’t feel like we had any fire until the third set.”
Whether Celebration played up to the standards set by their coach or not, it was still a dominant performance. The Storm broke on top in the first game with a quick 6-1 lead, but Dr. Phillips rallied back to an 11-11 tie. From that point on, however, it pretty much was all Celebration. Diego Rivera came up with several smart plays at the net and the Storm took advantage of some Dr. Phillips errors to score seven of the final nine points of the set for the win.
Celebration was trailing 3-2 in the second set when senior captain Darion Graham took control. His spike tied the game and then three consecutive hard serves never made it back over the net as Storm took a 6-3 lead and never were challenged for the rest of the set.
“We consider our serves to be our first attack,” Davila said. “If we get an ace great but you don’t need an ace to be effective. When we serve and an opponent needs two touches just keep the ball off the floor, they can’t amount an attack from that position.”
Although Dr. Phillips was able to rally back to within three points at 13-10, the Storm would go on a 8-0 run to push the lead to 21-10 and cruise to the second set win.
The Panthers played much better in the third set and provided the most entertaining game of the match. The teams traded points throughout most of it. The key sequence came with the score tied 17-17 when Celebration’s Daniel Santiago recorded a kill and Diego Rivera came up with a huge block at the net after a long rally to give the Storm a 19-17 advantage. The teams then traded points but Rivera had three kills and big ace down the stretch as the Storm pulled away for the win.
Graham had 14 kills Friday, while Victor Binet had eight kills and a block and Oliver Binet added five kills and three aces. It was Celebration’s seventh consecutive =win as they attempt to add a regional title to the district and Orange Belt Conference championships they won last month.
