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Recent Middle School Girls Volleyball News
OCP's Varsity Volleyball team is hitting their groove at the right time of the season. The Lady Warriors won 2 of 3 games in 3 consecutive days following postponements due to Hurricane Ian, and have started the final week of the regular season with 2 wins against district opponents.
OCP (10-8) concludes the week and regular season against their third district foe of the week against rival Faith Christian Academy for Senior Night on Thursday October 13.
Faith Christian and OCP have matched up twice previously this season, splitting the matches 1-1. The first meeting back in early September was controlled by the Lions in their gym 3-0. The second meeting took place in pool play of the Lake Mary Prep invitational. In that match, the Warriors won 2-0 as the match was the second consecutive match for OCP following an exciting 2-1 victory over Merritt Island Christian.
Both teams sit in the top 2 spots in the FHSAA 2A Region 2 District 7 rankings published by FHSAA.com. The top seeds host district games in the 6-team field, including the championship game. An OCP win may go a long way towards giving the Lady Warriors the top seed and home court advantage in districts.
Earlier in the week, the Lady Warriors defeated City of Life Christian Academy for the annual Dig Pink Match 3-1 (29-27, 25-9, 23-25, 25-13). Senior Lydia Mascari led the team with 5 serving aces and 36 assists. Senior Aalyssa Gunn had a team-high 16 kills, along with 18 digs. Junior Kalyn McIntyre had a team-high 39 digs. Sophomore Lilly Lach served a team-high 17 consecutive points, which included 3 aces, in the second set.
The following night, OCP defeated Central Florida Leadership Academy (CFLA) 3-0 (25-5, 25-12, 25-12). Senior Carlee Cruz had a team-high 8 serving aces and Mascari had a team-high 7 kills.
SENIOR NIGHT
OCP's Class of 2023 seniors, known as the "Fab 5," are a mix of players that have grown up in the volleyball program and newer contributors.
Ariana Cintron, defensive specialist, is in her first year at OCP after playing varsity volleyball since her sophomore year at her previous school. Marieva de Paulo Junco, middle, is in her second year at OCP and on the varsity volleyball team. Despite missing significant time last year due to injury, de Paulo Junco has been a steady presence at the net this season.
The trio Cruz (middle), Mascari (setter) and Gunn (outside hitter) have been 4-year varsity players under Head Coach Omar Soto.
Cruz, who also plays softball for OCP along with travel softball, has grown into a confident server and attacker from the middle this season.
Mascari has played in the OCP program for the past 9 years. As the primary setter she has become one the best in Class 2A this season. She averages 8.2 assists/game, which is tied for 5th best in the state.
Gunn serves as captain and outside hitter with a 3.2 kills/set average, which ranks Top 20 (t.17) in Class 2A. She has been a two-time All-District player and was the team's 2021 Offensive Player of the Year. A rare 3-sport athlete, Gunn was named the OCP Female Athlete of the Year for the 2021-22 school year as she played basketball and ran track after the volleyball season.
The "Fab 5" have done a great job of leading this team through a challenging season where much of it has been played without the full opening season roster. Now, they sit in position to accomplish a team goal of advancing to the district championship game, winning district and advancing to the state tournament.
OCP Volleyball Returns With Eyes On A Brighter Season
The 2022 season began with a bang for the OCP Lady Warriors varsity volleyball team. Participating in a preseason tournament at Lake Mary Prep against the host Griffins in the championship game. OCP had to rally in the second and third set with some huge emotional plays to secure the victory.
The resolve and big play-making ability shown in the two preseason contests set the table perfectly for the 2022 season.
OCP finished 2021 with a 13-11 record, the first plus-.500 season since 2017, and won their first district match in several years before falling to eventual District and Region champion, Orangewood Christian. Head coach Omar Soto, begins his fourth season with his most talented team and he can set the expectations higher than past years because he's watched many of these girls grow up under his leadership and direction.
The 2022 roster consists of seven returning letterwinners with three of those young ladies entering their 4th year on varsity with Soto. Led by outside hitter and 2021 District All-Star Aalyssa Gunn, setter Lydia Mascari and right side/middle Carlee Cruz these 4-year varsity seniors have grown into the emotional leaders that will look to get OCP into the district championship game and an even better win-loss record than the previous year.
Four additional returning varsity players will play major roles along side the three seniors. Senior middle Marieva De Paulo Junco returns after an early season injury limited her playing time last year. Juniors Alana Ortiz and Kalyn McIntyre, right side and libero, respectively, add experience and athleticism to the lineup, and sophomore right side/setter Madison Hull should be able to continue flashing her play-making ability this year.
Two newcomers to the program will bring some experience and play-making ability to the roster this season. Senior defensive specialist Ariana Cintron and sophomore outside Lily Lach have already made positive impacts on the team.
WARRIORS SWEEP HOME OPENER
The regular season started late in the week for the volleyball program, but the middle school, JV and varsity teams managed to record wins against International Community School (ICS) on Thursday August 25.
OCP's Middle School team, coached by Coach Kelly McIntyre, won 25-15 and 25-13 to start the tripleheader. Junior Varsity loss the first set 21-25, but played inspired in the 2nd set winning 25-19 as they got the crowd lathered up heading into the third set. They won that set 15-9 thanks to a 8-1 run early in the set. The win was the first for coach Emily Jacobson (c/o 2020), who was co-captain on the varsity team in Coach Soto's first season at OCP.
Varsity defeated ICS in three straight sets 25-10, 25-13, 25-15 in large part to the 1-2 serving punch of Mascari and Gunn who opened the 1st and 2nd set with several points off her excellent serving in the game. Mascari had 18 total serves with one serving error (94.4 Serv %), while Gunn recorded on 20 total serves with one serving error (95% Serv %). Mascari led the team with five serving aces.
Cruz led the team with five kills and a 45.5 kill % from the middle. Libero Kalyn McIntyre had 11 digs, along with 10 serves received. Mascari added 16 assists in the match.
A tripleheader home match against CFCA on August 30 was cancelled and replaced with a tripleheader road trip to The First Academy. Middle school starts at 4:30pm, JV follows at 5:30 and first serve for varsity is 7pm. Tickets must be purchased on GoFan (Link: https://gofan.co/app/school/FL790/ )
On September 1, all three teams return home for a tripleheader against Forest Lake Academy. Start times are 4:30, 5:30 and 7pm. Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for students.
All home games stream on the Orlando Christian Prep NFHSNetwork.com PPV webpage. A portion of proceeds from the season package or individual game sales goes back to Orlando Christian Prep Athletics.
