AREA ROUNDUP: Venice beach volleyball loses in regionals; tennis sees season end at state

VENICE — Venice looked to take advantage of hosting a strong Calvary Christian team on its home sand in the regional quarterfinals on Monday.

A win would’ve setup a district championship rematch with Cardinal Mooney on Thursday in the regional semis, but the Warriors prevented that chance with a 4-1 victory over the Indians at Venice Beach.

“We got outplayed, let’s just be honest,” Venice head coach John Richards said. “We had the talent, and after falling behind 2-0, I thought the 1’s, 3’s and 5’s all should’ve won. It didn’t happen, and it’s disappointing to see the season end like this.”

The Warriors (9-3) jumped out to a 2-0 lead, winning the 2’s and 4’s matches.

Venice’s Melissa Apolonio and Addie Lariviere competed in the first set, trailing Calvary’s Emarie Straw and Kiki Provatas by just a couple of points late.

Straw and Provatas would eventually hang on to win, 21-17, before dominating Apolonio and Lariviere, 21-9, in the second set.

The 4’s team of Julia Westlake and Kendra Kesteloot saw a similar fate to Apolonio and Lariviere, losing to Calvary’s Addie Slater and Brynn Farmer (21-16, 21-11).

Venice’s only win of the afternoon came at 1’s with JaLynn Gardner and Brighton Ferguson.

The team’s most-reliable duo beat Calvary’s Ashley Johnson and Alina Hedges, 21-14, 21-13, in two sets.

The 3’s team of Jayda Lanham and Hilary Hupp looked poised to hand Venice its second match win of the day before falling in three sets to Calvary’s McKenzie Lange and Ava Bonin (21-15, 21-23, 9-15).

Hupp and Lanham dominated the first frame before falling behind by as many as nine points in the second set.

A ferocious comeback allowed Lanham and Hupp to tie the second set three separate times — 19-19, 20-20 and 21-21 — before losing in the end.

In the deciding set, Lanham and Hupp appeared gassed after an emotional second frame, allowing Lange and Bonin to pull away.

Calvary actually secured a spot in the regional semis with a victory in the 5’s match.

Allison Schapley and Ali Estes kept things close early in both sets for Venice, but Calvary’s Amber Lawrence and Riley Jones went on to win (21-15, 21-16).

For the second consecutive season, Venice’s season ends in the regional quarterfinals after advancing to state in 2022.

Despite the disappointing end to the 2024 campaign, Richards is excited with what next year can bring. Especially with sand courts coming to campus as soon as 2025.

“We always have to relocate,” Richards said. “We are always on the move. We can never be in that comfort zone. If we’re on that campus every day, we’ll be relaxed. We’ll have more students at our matches, more voices. It’ll definitely be an advantage for us, and I hope they’ll be finished in time.”

The Indians will lose a number of key seniors that includes Gardner, Hupp, Lanham and Taylor Orris.

However, Ferguson and Estis will be crucial seniors Richards should be able to count on next year. Additionally, Apolonio and Lariviere will be back with experience as well, with a trio of new freshmen joining the roster too.

“I think we can build on something for next year, I really do,” Richards said. “We have a few really good freshmen coming in that’ll help us. One of the biggest things I’ll want to change next year is our conditioning. I think we faded too often late in sets this year, and that hurt us. When we were fresh, we were really good across the board.”

VENICE TENNIS EXITS EARLY AT STATEVenice girls tennis saw its perfect run come to an end in the state quarterfinals at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs on Monday.

Coming into the state quarterfinals with an 18-0 record — and district and regional championships show for it — the Indians suffered their first loss at the hands of Steinbrenner (4-0).

Both doubles teams fell to begin the match, with Nike DeLong and Christine Wu falling at 1 doubles (1-4, 0-4) and Faye Klutke and Tess Tchorbadjiev losing at 2 doubles (1-4, 3-5).

At singles, DeLong was swept in two sets by Mollie Garcia at 1 singles (0-6, 0-6) and Joy Jia fell to McKenzie Kremer across two sets at 3 singles (1-6, 4-6).

On the boys side, Ariston Spanos and Grant Burroughs both participated in the individual state tournament.

Spanos lost at 1 singles in the round of 16 to Ponte Vedra’s William Chaves (2-6, 2-6) before Burroughs and Spanos succumbed to Vero Beach’s Mason Cisco and Walter Lloyd in 1 doubles (4-6, 4-6) in the first round.