Trinity Catholic tops Foundation Academy for district volleyball title

The Trinity Catholic volleyball team has lofty expectations each and every year, but winning a district championship is the first goal. The Celtics, a perennial state power, accomplished their first objective of the season by holding off a scrappy Foundation Academy squad by scores of 25-20, 25-20 and 25-16 in the Class 2A-District 4 finals on Thursday night.

The win in the district championship, the 13th in a row for Trinity Catholic, improved the Celtics to 17-3 on the season.

“Every district championship is special,” said Trinity Catholic coach Jeff Reavis. “Foundation Academy is a good team with good athletes. They pushed us which is what we needed because you’re going to have adversity in the playoffs. We had some girls who didn’t have their best stuff tonight, but they fought through it which was good to see.”

The win moves the Celtics into Tuesday’s regional quarterfinals, while Foundation Academy (Winter Garden) dropped to 17-4 overall.

The first set was a back-and-forth affair with 10 ties, the last at 20-20 before Trinity Catholic pulled away as junior outside hitter Maddie Hewitson and sophomore outside hitter Ashlyn Hallick had back-to-back kills and Foundation Academy had a net violation. The Lions called a time out to try and stem the tide, but Trinity Catholic sophomore Maggie O’Farrell drilled consecutive service aces to close out the set for the Celtics.

“Maddie and Ashlyn had really good nights,” coach Reavis said. “Addison Avery was solid at middle blocker, had a great start and kind of set the tone for us.”

The second set was quite competitive as Foundation Academy, despite a size disadvantage at the net, tied the score at 11 as sophomore Haley Higgins had several of her team-high nine kills. Trinity Catholic went on a 9-3 run as sophomore outside hitter Emily Reed found the range with a spike, Hewitson contributed two of her match-high 10 kills and junior Hannah Williams had a service ace. The Lions used a time out to regroup and clawed back within 21-19 as senior Madison Krause had a block and a pair of cross-court spikes.

Trinity Catholic came through in the clutch as senior Riley Murray and Hallick had kills and sophomore Isabella Rodriguez had consecutive service aces to finish the set and give the Celtics a commanding 2-0 lead.

The final set looked to be a formality as Trinity Catholic stormed out to a 12-4 lead. Foundation Academy refused to go quietly into the night and rallied to within 16-13 behind solid play from junior Lilly Bower and Higgins along with several uncharacteristic errors by the Celtics.

Trinity Catholic regained its focus and finished with a flourish as Muray had a pair of kills and a block and Hewitson added a spike and a block. The multi-talented Hewitson finished off the set and the match with a vicious kill shot to clinch the district championship for the Celtics.

“It’s supposed to be a group effort,” coach Reavis said. “We’ve put in a lot of work this season and we’re close to where I want us to be.”

Trinity Catholic will host a regional quarterfinal on Tuesday night as the Celtics continue their quest for another state championship.