Montverde, Fla.— Upon the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) releasing its brackets for the 2022 girls' volleyball regional tournaments, Montverde Academy has learned it has earned the No. 5 seed for the for the 3A Region 2 bracket.
The Eagles will play at No. 4 seed St. Andrew's High School in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, October 25 at 7:00 pm. If MVA wins, they will play a semifinal round match on Friday, October 28 against the winner between No. 1 seed the Benjamin School and No. 8 seed Oxford Academy. If the match is against the Benjamin School, it will be at Benjamin High School. However, the match will be in Montverde if it is against Oxford Academy.
If the Eagles advance into the championship round, they will play for the regional championship on Tuesday, November 1 against either No. 2 seed Lake Highland Prep, No. 3 seed King's Academy, No. 6 seed Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy or No. 7 seed Windermere Prep, with the higher seed hosting the match.
If the Eagles win the regional championship, they will advance into the state semifinal round on Friday, November 4, then the state championship match on Friday November 11 in Winter Haven on the campus of Polk State College.
"With the excitement of playoffs, we are setting our minds for each specific game," head coach Jola Graham said. "That's the strategy we are going to be creating and practicing, and our fight is going to be showed on Tuesday."
The Eagles enter the regional tournament after falling 3-1 (26-28, 25-14, 17-25, 18-25) to Lake Highland Prep in the district championship match on October 20. MVA, who was the no. 2 seed in the district tournament, got to the championship round match by defeating No. 7 seed Cornerstone Charter Academy 3-0 (25-10, 25-9, 25-15) in the quarterfinal round on October 17, and No. 3 seed Windermere Prep 3-1 (21-25, 25-17, 25-19, 25-22) in the semifinal round on October 18.
MVA comes into the regional tournament with a 17-8 overall record. The Eagles have earned 14 shutouts wins this season, including 11 wins of 3-0 and three wins of 2-0. Earlier this season, the Eagles earned seven consecutive 3-0 wins.
Senior Thalita Marangon and sophomore Ana Julia Peixoto share the team lead in kills this season with 208 each. Marangon has also led the the team lead in service aces with 51 and she is second on the team in digs with 170. Junior Bailey Hollis leads the team with a .342 attack percentage (131-35-281), while senior libero Luiza Manata has patrolled the back row like an All-Star, amassing 374 digs in 78 sets played (4.8 per set average) which is sixth most amongst 3A teams this season. Taina de Lima Nunes has been the main setter and has a team lead of 375 assists this season.
"I definitely want to give my best because it could be my last game," Marangon said. But I want to get on the court and feel like I did my best."
