Orangewood Christian’s girls volleyball program has been successful for decades under 37th-year coach Diane Langmo. But never have the Rams garnered national notice.
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Until now.
Orangewood confirmed it is one of the best teams in the U.S. by reaching the semifinals of the Durango Classic in Las Vegas over the weekend. The tournament had eight of the top 10 teams in MaxPreps’ national rankings.
The No. 4 Rams (14-2) won their first five matches — against teams from California, Texas and Nevada — before putting a scare into national No. 1 Sierra Canyon (24-1) of California. Orangewood won the first set 25-22 against the Trailblazers before losing the next two 25-20, 25-14 for its first loss. The Rams then lost 25-23, 25-17 against Cornerstone Charter (26-4) of Texas in the third-place match.
Tuesday’s updated MaxPreps rankings have California’s Mater Dei (23-0), which beat Sierra Canyon in the Durango final, at No. 1, followed by Sierra Canyon, Cornerstone and Orangewood.
“I feel like we had a great tournament,” Langmo said. “Archbishop Mitty (ranked No. 21), one of the California teams, had not lost and we beat them (25-12, 25-13) on Saturday. We just placed amazing. Hardly any mistakes.”
Orangewood sophomore star Ellie Engel and senior Kennedy Langmo, one of two twin seniors who play for their mother, made the All-Tournament team.
“Isabel (Incinelli) had a great tournament too,” coach Langmo said. “I think what helps us is we have four girls who can really hit. You can’t just overplay one.”
That foursome includes Incinelli and Kaleigh Langmo.
Orangewood plays a tournament closer to home this weekend, the Sunshine State Invitational.
Hoops happening
More than 100 boys basketball teams signed up for this weekend’s HoopExchange Fall Festival event at The Big House in Tavares. Games are scheduled for 11 a.m. through 8:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
It’s an offseason event, so teams won’t have their high schools listed on their uniforms. For instance, Evans will play as The Hills Have Eyes.
Admission is $25 at the door.
Girls bowling
The three-time state champion East River girls bowling team earned another three-peat on Saturday by winning its third consecutive Kegel High School Classic at the Kegel Training Center in Lake Wales.
The Falcons shot the two best games — 1,035 and 992 — and added Baker games of 213, 237 and 185. Their pin count of 2,662 was 270 better than runner-up Martin County. Winter Park placed third.
East River senior Larielle Tharps also three-peated as the top individual with a two-game total of 468.
Page Arnold rolled a 226+212=438 series as Lake Mary stayed unbeaten (9-0). Mia Santiago added a 224 in the win.
Adriana Cabezas rolled a 202 as Winter Park improved to 9-0.
Chase Ornelas bowled a 231 game and 427 series in a win for Crooms. Cait Adams added a 217 for the Panthers.
Boys bowling
South Lake finished fourth in the Kegel Invitational with a 2,628 team total, just ahead of East River’s 2,608.
Johnathan Madruga rolled 258 and 246 games as Hagerty improved to 9-1.
Lyman also upped its record to 9-1 with Jonathan Vinson-McFarland rolling a 257 and Jamarion Tate a 255.
Oviedo’s Alexander Coghill stayed hot with games of 279, 256 and 255.
Easton Dudde had a 646 three-game series for Winter Park (8-1).
Boys cross country
East Ridge senior Axel Sallault clocked a season-best 15:05.9 time to finish first ahead of Lake Minneola’s Quentin Thompson (15:29) at the Hawks on the Hill race. Host Lake Minneola won the team title.
St. Cloud’s Luis Rivera ran a personal record 15:20.2 for first at the North Port Invite.
Hagerty topped runner-up Tavares 37 to 44 in the Joe McKinney Classic at New Smyrna Beach. That was the third consecutive win for the Huskies, who host their own invitational on Saturday morning. Liam Ilea of Tavares was the individual winner with a 16:19.4 time. Hagerty’s Camden Thompson was second at 16:34.2.
Girls cross country
Bishop Moore sophomore Annabella Tomasic, the reigning 3A state champ, clocked a time of 17 minutes, 24 seconds for 5,000 meters to win at the Katie Caples Invitational in Jacksonville. That’s the fastest time in the FHSAA, regardless of classification.
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Windermere won the Hawks on the Hill race by one point, 79-80, ahead of East Ridge. Horizon’s Abigayle White was the individual winner at 19:09.5, ahead of Windermere’s Annabella Ekebergh.
Boone’s Anne Vamos crossed the line first at 19:16.2 and the Braves totaled 53 points to edge Hagerty (58) for the Joe McKinney Classic team total.
Boys golf
Lake Minneola scored its first-ever boys golf tournament win in the 13-team West Orange Invitational. Brody Drewes was the individual winner with a 68 to lead the Hawks 18-hole score of 293 at Stoneybrook West Golf Club. Eustis was one stroke behind at 294, ahead of Winter Park’s 302.
Chase Bauer shot 4-under-par 32 for Windermere Prep as the Lakers tied The First Academy 141-141 at Waldorf Astoria Golf Club.
Paul Ancona shot 4-under 32 for Apopka (141) in a win at Metrowest Golf Club.
Nick Lehto shot 3-under 33 for St. Cloud in a 145-152 win vs. Vero Beach at Royal St. Cloud Links.
Bentley Williams shot 3-under 33 at Venetian Bay in a DeLand 150 win.
Ziyang Wang shot 3-under 33 for Lake Buena Vista.
Girls golf
Yuhan Wang, Harper Zhai and Chloe Chen all shot 2-under-par 34 for The First Academy at Links of Lake Mary to give the Royals a stellar 137-145 win against Lake Mary Prep in a duel of unbeaten teams. LMP seventh grader Isabella Miller was the medalist with a 33.
Windermere Prep’s Ava Zhang shot 3-under 33 in a 146-149 loss against TFA at Stoneybrook West.
Lilliana Ford shot 4-under-par 66 and Gianna Digiacomo had 68 for Lake Mary Prep in an 18-hole hole 274 victory at Winter Pines Golf Club. Emma Cheng had 68 for Winter Park (310) and Maddie Burda shot 68 for St. Cloud (373).
Zhuang Katie shot 4-under 32 for a Montverde Academy win (143) at Legends Golf & Country Club of Clermont.
Boone edged Winter Park 161-163 with Corinne Searl shooting 3-under 33 for the Braves at Ventura Country Club. Winter Park’s Phah Smitasin shot the low 32.
Alexandra Snyder shot 3-under 33 and Michelle Lu added a 34 for Lake Nona in 142 victory at Stoneybrook Golf Club.
Volleyball
Orangewood is the top seed in the 16-team Sunshine State tournament, which tips off pool play at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Oviedo High School. Saturday matches start at 9 a.m. leading to championship bracket semifinals at noon and the final at 2 p.m.
The second seed is Alabama’s No. 1 team, McGill-Toolen (27-1). South Carolina No. 2 Wando (20-2) is also making the trip, along with Georgetown Day School, which was 22-1 and No. 1 in Washington, D.C., last year.
Three more top 10 teams in FHSAA rankings, No. 6 DeLand (16-0), No. 7 Tampa Plant (7-2), and No. 8 Beachside (16-1) of St. Johns are entered. Host Oviedo was 14-1 going into a Wednesday match vs. Bishop Moore (11-3).
Winter Park, Lake Brantley and Olympia are the other area entries.
Tickets, available only at GoFan.co, are $15 or $25 for a tournament pass.
Montverde Academy’s Kristina Vargas had 28 assists in a Tuesday win against Hagerty to set a school career record of 872. The Eagles (8-5) won 25-22, 18-25, 25-23, 25-15.
DeLand pulled out a 25-20, 27-25, 18-25, 21-25, 15-12 win against Montverde last week.
Horizon (12-1) is on an 11-match win streak, including a 3-1 win vs. Winter Park.
The First Academy (13-2) topped Lake Highland Prep (11-8) in three sets Tuesday and has won seven consecutive matches.
Bishop Moore went 5-0 without losing a set to claim the Lake Howell Invitational championship. Kissimmee Osceola (10-5) rallied to win a 2-1 semifinal match against West Orange (12-3) and place second.
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at [email protected]. Steve Gorches contributed to this report.
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