Orangewood Christian sophomore sensation Ellie Enger missed the Rams’ preseason matches and Monday’s season opener, but she was still winning big.
The 6-foot-1 setter was a captain for the USA Volleyball National Team that won the FIVB U17 World Championship tournament in Santiago, Chile. The U.S. team went 9-0 and won all 27 sets played.
Enger steered the offense with her sets and scored seven points on two kills, two blocks and three aces in Sunday’s championship match, a 25-23, 25-11, 25-23 win against Turkiye.
Orangewood, which is nationally ranked, plays at West Orange (1-0) on Wednesday night and should have Enger back in the lineup. But another elite Orangewood player, 6-5 senior Isabell Incinelli, leaves for Nicaragua on Monday to represent USA Volleyball as a member of the U21 National Team playing in the U23 Pan American Cup. She will miss two weeks, according to Rams coach Diane Langmo.
Incinelli led Orangewood to a 25-12, 25-22, 25-7 win over Olympia in a Tuesday regular season opener. She had 18 kills.
A year ago, Enger missed Orangewood’s five-set state semifinal loss to First Baptist of Naples because she was with the U17 national team in a training session in Colorado Springs. Langmo said both girls, also teammates for the Winter Park Volleyball Club, should be available for the rest of this season after Incinelli returns.
Elsewhere, Umatilla opened its season Monday by beating South Lake for the first time in program history. Kinely Fickett had 18 kills, and Aubrey Schnitz added 27 digs in the 25-13, 25-21, 25-17 victory.
Lake Howell topped University (Orange City) 25-12, 25-15, 25-11 in the Silverhawks’ first match for new head coach Lily Tang. She was an assistant to her father, Paul, last season.
Oviedo, a 2025 state champ, opened with a 25-7, 25-12, 25-20 win against Winter Springs.
Boys golfCircle Christian sophomore Ethan Nejman shot a scalding 62 and The First Academy rolled to the team title in Wednesday’s Boone Invitational at Hawks Landing Golf Course (par 70).
TFA, led by Tyler Creavy (65), Joshua Castellanos (66) and Nathan Erickson (67), totaled a 14-under-par 266 score. Circle finished second at 275, followed by Bishop Moore (278), Lake Nona (284), Lake Mary (288), West Orange (289) and Windermere High (289).
Bishop Moore’s Jack Mokris tied for second with a 65 and Brody Batz of West Orange shot 67.
Mokris shot 4-under 66, and his teammate, Noah Manly, carded 67, when Bishop Moore opened the season with a strong 271-302 win against host Villages Charter at Shallow Greek Golf Course.
The Preseason Top 10 tournament, hosted by Windermere, saw Winter Park and TFA shoot 5-under par 283 scores to tie for first at Mission Inn’s El Campeon Course. Lake Highland Prep was third at 285. The format was different than normal, as each team’s five players played each hole together.
“Today was fun playing together. And as a coach, I get to see every shot,” Winter Park coach Rob Robison said. “I love these preseason opportunities.”
Erickson was the individual medalist at 67.
Lake Mary Prep ninth grader Qiaoyi Lyu shot 2-under 34 at Links of Lake Mary in a 145-182 girls win vs. Trinity Prep.
Cross countryEast Ridge swept the boys and girls titles in Saturday’s FCA Preseason Invitational in Clermont.
The Knights scored 48 points in the boys race with senior Axel Sallault crossing the finish line first in 16 minutes, 55.47 seconds for 5,000 meters. Tavares was second with 61 points in the 12-team race.
Horizon junior Maleik Lewis finished second behind Sallault with a 17:08.39 time.
The East Ridge girls had five of the top 12 girls to run away with a 36-point total. Windermere High was second and had the individual winner in junior Annabella Ekebergh (19:57.52). Winter Park sophomore Kate Ryan was second at 20:58.87.
The Red Sea Running Club, a team of Tavares Middle School and elementary school girls, once again beat high school teams to win the girls team title in Lake Mary’s Summertime Run preseason meet. They had the top two finishers, eighth grader Alice Ilea (19:21.21) and fifth grader Aliana Alvarez (19:35.68), and edged runner-up Hagerty 48 points to 55.
Hagerty had the two top boys finishers in juniors Nate Winslow (16:44.82) and Camden Thompson (17:00.63), but Sanford Seminole won the boys team title with 49 points.
The Ocoee Kickstart Classic runs Saturday morning.
Red Sea youth running club tops high school teams | Varsity Weekly
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com. Steve Gorches contributed to this report.
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