ORANGE PARK - Ridgeview High sent Katie Waters to the FHSAA state championship tournament last year, and it will double-down in 2026 after the boys team won its district title and the girls finished as the runner-up.

Both teams advanced to the state championships Oct. 27-29  at Orlando's Boardwalk Bowl Entertainment Center.

"Our boys are very good," said bowling coach Aimee Stutz. "None of the boys are returners from last year's team."

Waters was an individual qualifier last year with a 513-pin district finish. In the state qualifying round, Waters finished 57th with games of 138, 164, 141 and a final game of 227 for a 670 total. The state title was won with 821 total pins.

The Panther boys won their district title with a 3,198 pins to beat Lincoln's 2,951 pins. The Panthers had a lead total of 737 by Cameron Morton with three bowlers - Eli Anckner, Javier Uzcategui and Vincent Cintron - all finishing with more than 600 pins. Brayden Smith finished at 587 to complete the lineup.

The top challenger for Lincoln had 651.

In the girls district competition, Makayla DeLorenzo won with 550, with Waters finishing at 497. The Lady Panthers finished second overall with scores of 2,128, second only to Columbia's 2,269. DeLorenzo's score is among the highest statewide.

Others scoring for the Lady Panthers were Mi Orrego at 444, Miranda Jefferson at 392, Emma Lundy at 176 and Addi Kochman at 169.

In other districts, Sports Leadership and Management of Tampa's had 3,381, Windermere finished with 3,218 in District 8, Leesburg had 3,170 in District 4 and Park Vista's had 3,155 in District 14. The Panthers were one of only five teams to score at least 3,000 pins.

There were 17 districts. Daytona Beach Seabreeze was the boys state champions in 2025.

FHSAA volleyball playoffs

Broncos, Eagles head to region finals

By Randy Lefko,

randy@claytodayonline.com

PONTE VEDRA - Middleburg High volleyball coach Meredith Forkum acknowledged that her team knew about a possible grudge match in the Region 1-5A matchup against Ponte Vedra last Saturday.

Nonetheless, the Lady Broncos dismantled the vaunted Sharks, 3-1.

"I told them this was it, and if they played every ball like it was their last, we would be all right, said Forkum, who got outstanding play from some of the obscure players. "Every player played out of their element today knowing it was going to take a total team effort."

The win put Middleburg into the region final at Niceville on Wednesday, Oct. 28.

In the Region 1-4A semifinal featuring a third matchup between Fleming Island and Bishop Kenny, which was playing in a record 21st consecutive region finals. Fleming Island coach Amy Yoder unleashed her best hitter - junior Lilly Eason, who had 20 kills, in the 3-0 romp of the Lady Crusaders.

Fleming Island, 24-3, stayed home for its region final matchup against second-seed Arnold (19-8) on Wednesday. Arnold has won its last four matchups 3-0, including a district championship game against Wakulla, which Fleming Island beat in the region quarterfinals.

Fleming Island finished with a 3-1 district finals win over Bishop Kenny, which had wins against Wakulla and Bishop Kenny to stay alive.

In Region 1-2A, St. Johns Country Day School got to its region semifinal with a tough 3-2 win against St. Francis, before losing 3-0 to Christ's Church Academy in the region semifinal. The Spartans finished at 12-8. Christ's Church (21-7) advanced to face Beaches Chapel (20-5).

At Ponte Vedra last Saturday, the Broncos got outstanding play from three players - Amelia Cobb, whose serves befuddled the Sharks back line defenders, Sophia Butler, a middle blocker who continually repelled the violent shots of Ponte Vedra's three missile-throwing hitters, and Isabella Mestas, who courageously attacked at the net against the Sharks two-man coverage of senior hitter Maysie Bader.

"After they won the first game [26-24], coach Forkum told us someone was going to have to step up," said Mestas. "They were focusing on Maysie to score big with Katelynn (Laezza) also getting double-teamed. I knew my shots had to get through."

For Mestas, who was getting through methodically against the two-man defensive front put on by Sharks' defenders Vivienne Woodbury, Lily Keeley and Lexie Ward, the attention she was got was enough to let Bader and Laezza fire away with pin-point shots in the final two games.

"Our strength through the season has been to keep getting more people up at the net scoring points," Forkum said. "In the early part of the season, the younger players - Laezza, Abby Gribby and Cora Hausman - are all just sophomores, with Maysie the leader one of our only seniors. They all stepped up."

Ponte Vedra won Game 1. The Sharks led 5-1 and 15-9 before a Butler stuff at the net, and stellar services from Allie Anschuetz, ignited a Broncos comeback, 17-17. Middleburg surged to a 22-19 lead with Cobb serves, but Ponte Vedra came back behind vicious blows from outside hitter Khloe Murray to win.

"We made some adjustments, but more saw where our serves were going to keep them off balance," Cobb said. "Allie and I were hitting a little deeper to their backline and that gave us time to set defenses in front of their hitters."

Game 2 saw the adjustment flourish with Mestas hammering the Broncos to a quick 11-3 lead that grew to 15-6. Another bomb from Butler, and serves from Reese Forkum and Cobb, pushed the score to the 25-18 win.

Game 3 saw Middleburg continue its relentless attack with an early 12-2 lead to a 25-16 win with Bader unleashing a furious barrage of scores.

In Game 4, Ponte Vedra seemed confused by the Broncos attack strategy. Bader and Laezza kept Ponte Vedra at bay, but the Sharks' championship pedigree was not going down easy when the score got as close as 22-20 before Reese Forkum's serves sealed the game, 25-20.

"Once their defense started paying attention to Isabella up top, me and Katelynn got more open shots," Bader said.

Fleming Island survived a 25-22 win in Game 1 against Bishop Kenny before unloading with wins of 25-14 in the Games 2 and 3. Senior Lauren Brosky put away nine scores to complement Eason's 20 strikes.

Eason and Zahaviah Sanders each had three blocks to stifle the Bishop Kenny offense.