Forest sweeps The Villages for first win of the season

Despite coming off a tough opening week and missing three starters to injuries, the Forest volleyball team played its best match of the season in earning a 25-19, 25-13, 25-17 win over The Villages High School in front of a raucous home crowd on Tuesday night.

The hard-fought victory improved Class 7A Forest to 1-3 overall.

“It was a very difficult first week with girls in new positions and some girls with their first real varsity experience,” said Wildcats coach Jimmy Collins. “The girls have been working hard, their attitudes have been good, and we played well overall. Our serve-receive was good, the defense was better, our setters were accurate, and our hitters were more aggressive tonight.”

The loss dropped Class 3A The Villages to 3-2 on the season.

Forest came out ready to play from the opening point as junior Ava Robinson had three kills and junior outside hitter Kyndall Seek contributed four of her match-high 14 kills as the Wildcats opened up a commanding 19-12 lead in the first set.

The Villages roared back behind outside hitter Viviana Toucet Martinez’s three kills and several Forest miscues to pull within 22-19.

Forest went on a 3-0 run behind a key block by Robinson and a pair of Buffalo mistakes to take the first set.

Feeding off the momentum from its first set victory and a fired-up crowd, Forest jumped out to a 21-11 lead in the second set as sophomore Aspen Keuntjes had a pair of service aces as did senior Avery O’Cull. Junior Holland Hatchett found holes in the Buffalo defense with four powerful kill shots.

The Villages managed to score two points before Forest ended the second set with a flourish as Hatchett scored with a pair of spikes and a service error by The Villages put the Wildcats on top 2-0.

The Buffalo came out strong in the final set and actually led by a score of 6-5 before Forest began to assert its dominance at the net.

Strong play by Quash and outstanding serving by Seek fueled a 12-6 run to give the Wildcats a 17-12 advantage.

The Villages refused to go quietly and rallied behind strong serving and solid play at the net to close within 18-15.

Forest regrouped and rattled off a string of points as Mae Owen had a pair of blocks and Alivia Hunter found the range with a pair of cross-court kill shots.

Appropriately enough, it was Seek who ended the match with a laser spike down the line to give the Wildcats their first taste of victory this season.

“We have a lot of good things to build on from this win,” coach Collins said.

Forest is back in action on Friday with a game against Merritt Island in the Nike Tournament in Gainesville.

“Merritt Island is a good team and we’re looking forward to playing them,” coach Collins said. “We have a very tough schedule every year because that’s how you get better.”