Tampa Plant wins 7A Florida girls volleyball state championship, sweeping Winter Park in final

Pinecrest Gulliver Prep wins 3A crown, 1st state title in school history

WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA – Tampa Plant had a simple game plan: themselves.

Plant swept Winter Park 3-0 Saturday to win the Class 7A girls volleyball state championship at the FHSAA Finals at Polk State College with a dominating performance.

Plant won the sets 25-19, 25-21 and 25-21. 

Tampa Plant volleyball players mob each other at midcourt after winning the Class 3A girls volleyball state championship Saturday at the FHSAA Finals at Polk State College in Winter Haven / Bill Kemp

“I am so excited, and I am so glad it was with this group,” Plant senior libero Bella Lee said. “They are my best friends, and I wouldn’t want to end my high school career any other way. It’s as good as it gets.” 

Plant (25-3) was led by Maggie Dostic with 18 kills and 16 digs. Lee had 30 digs, and Kaylee Peper had 12 kills and three digs. Lara Matta had five kills and 12 digs while Ella Horvick finished with 13 digs.

“(Plant) played amazing defense,” Winter Park head coach Stephanie Gibson said. “Everything we handed them offensively, they handled it defensively. They are just 6-foot across the line. I have to give Plant a lot of credit.

“(The game plan) was to get them out of their system. We wanted to serve tough, and we have some pretty good servers, but they just handled everything. We were not able to swing as much down the line as we wanted to.”

Winter Park (29-3) was led by Fallon Stewart with 13 kills and 10 digs. Isabel Incinelli added 10 kills while Emma Oritz came up with a stunning 26 digs. Amelia Mancino had 16 digs with three kills, and Sarah Webb finished with 13 digs and one kill. 

Stewart signed with the University of Cincinnati and Ortiz signed with Syracuse this past week.

“Going into this season we really didn’t expect to go this far with such a good record,” Stewart said. “We had a goal in mind, which was to get better every single day at practice. So, as the season went on, the goal became more tangible and more real. Once we got into the playoffs, we knew it was do-or-die at this point.”

Gulliver Prep completes turnaround with 3A state championship

Gulliver Prep won its first girls volleyball state championship Saturday, capturing the Class 3A crown after rallying to beat Orlando Bishop Moore 3-1 in the first state title game Saturday.

“Our coach always talks about flipping the switch and we did,” said Gulliver middle-hitter Jackie Taylor, who signed with North Carolina last week. “We have a great group of girls and when you all collectively want it, you just play your heart out.

“I am in shock right now to be part of this school. We have never done this before. This my senior year, and to check this off the box and make history is great.” 

Gulliver Prep players hug and celebrate after winning the Florida Class 3A girls volleyball state championship Saturday at the FHSAA Finals at Polk State College in Winter Haven / Bill Kemp

Gulliver was trailing 16-9 in the fourth set when it went on a 16-5 run to win 25-21 and seal the championship. Gulliver won the first set 25-12, dropped the second 17-25 and won a nip-and-tuck battle in the third set 26-24.

“We have been doing that all year. For some reason, we play much better when we are playing from behind,” Gulliver head coach Emilio Rodriguez said. “It’s stressful, but these girls showed zero quit.”

Rodriguez is in his third season, and when he arrived, Gulliver was coming off a one-win season in 2020.

Gulliver was led by Taylor with 26 kills, 6.5 blocks and four digs. Haley Brenner came up with 23 digs and seven kills while Julio Rose Rivera finished with 13 kills.

“Gritty, we’re gritty. Everyone will sacrifice their body for something,” Brenner said. “It’s not unfamiliar territory for us. Every game we have played this season, we were either down a set or down 10 points or something. We’ve got comfortable in that. “

Rivera, who just joined the team this season, mentioned no onlookers were giving the team a chance this season, and even the Gulliver student body were betting against them when they left for the state finals.

Gulliver Prep players Jackie Taylor (1) and Kate Welty (8) block a shot from Bishop Moore’s Avery Schwieger (4) during the Class 3A state championship match at the FHSAA Finals at Polk State College Saturday in Winter Haven / Bill Kemp

“It is Gulliver versus Everybody,” Rivera said.

Bishop Moore was led by Anika Groom with 17 kills and 12 digs while Emily Schellenberg had 23 digs and six kills. Leah McDonald had eight kills and three digs, and Sophia Ingelias finished with seven kills and 11 digs.

“(Bishop Moore) is a great team and very well coached,” Rodriguez said. “We are going to see them again somehow, somewhere. (Coach Tanya Jarvis Starrett) made a huge adjustment in the second set and we had to change our defensive rotations around just to pick up some of the short stuff.”