Six-pack for Venice High volleyball

WINTER HAVEN – Brian Wheatley always says the most important matches are the ones when a trophy is involved.

Well, Wheatley was so excited Saturday night, he forgot there was a trophy.

That is what happens when you win your sixth state title spanning four decades.

Wheatley’s Venice High volleyball team stormed back from an early deficit to take a 3-1 victory over Hagerty out of Oviedo 21-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-16 in the Class 7A state title game at the Polk State College - Winter Haven Health Center.

It was the first time since 2017 Venice hoisted the trophy, when Wheatley it finally was presented to Wheatley.

This title was nearly a year in the making. After not having won the previous four years since beating Leon in Jacksonville, the motto before the summer became NOW (no opportunity wasted).

“This was going to be mirror game,” Wheatley said. “When we wake up in the morning and look at ourselves in the mirror, what are we going to see. Forget the wins and losses. Are we going to see someone who went for it and absolutely left it all on the table, because that’s what you’ve got to do in state championships.”

Venice (22-4) did not pass the mirror test in the first set. Using outstanding defense, Hagerty (22-9) picked up everything Venice threw its way. The Huskies turned deficits of 10-3 and 20-17 deficit into a 25-21 decision.

“After the first set I was a little nervous,” junior middle hitter Hilary Hupp said. “I did feel it was important to be calm, cool and collected and know how to play the game.”

Unlike the new Teepee where Wheatley can take his players into the hallway behind the gym, at this arena there was a space behind the bench near the stairwell.

“That team has fighters,” Wheatley said of Hagerty. “They are quality. Awesome defense. They’re outworking you.

“Every time I’ve challenged them this year, they’ve responded.”

“We know how to play volleyball and this wasn’t Venice volleyball,” Hupp said. “We told ourselves we had to focus and we all had to do our jobs.”

Venice grabbed the lead early in the second set and gradually pulled away to tie it at 1-all.

Midway through the third set was the turning point. Venice went to Hupp and she responded in a huge way.

Hupp recorded three kills and a block during a 9-0 spurt that turned a 12-10 deficit into what seemed to be a commanding 19-12 lead.

“Watching film, we realized there was only going to be one blocker in the middle on the other side,” Hupp said. “Wheatley said if we run the middle constantly, it would be a clear shot for us to win. We realized we had to emphasize the middle.”

“Once we started running our middles, the ballgame absolutely shifted,” Wheatley said. “That’s what we do well. We run a zero tempo, middle hit that people aren’t used to.”

But the Huskies did not go down easily. They fought back with six straight points before an ace and kill by Imagine School of North Port transfer Summer Kohler. The sophomore quickly became the go-to hitter for Venice in her first year with the program.

Then it became a matter of putting Hagerty away in four sets, so it did not come down to a fifth and deciding set.

Venice scored the first eight points of the fourth set and never looked back.

“To become a champion you have to act and think like one first,” Wheatley said. “We were not going to become champions until we believed it and acted and thought like a champion.

“This is team is special. I told you all year this team has what it takes to go all the way.”

Turning point of the season

If there was one turning point of the season, it came after the Oct. 11 match against Cardinal Mooney. After beating the Cougars 3-2 on their home floor earlier in the season in Sarasota, Venice was spent at the Teepee.

“After losing to Cardinal Mooney, we had a players’ only talk,” said setter Ashley Reynolds, one of Venice’s two senior starters. “We talked about how we wanted the rest of the season to go. We knew we had to make a change right then and there.”

Venice ended the season with a 10-match winning streak, including the incredible comeback in the fourth set against defending state champion Plant in the regional final.

“Everyone took that talk to heart,” Reynolds said. “The coaches don’t even know what we said. Everyone wanted to win.”

Venice's 7th man showed up in full force

The green wave of Venice fans filled both sides of the gym on the team’s bench side.

“I’m so thankful for those guys,” Wheatley said. “Those guys pushed us through. They were here early. There were loud. Venice shows up.”

And the fans refused to leave when it was over.

The fans flooded the floor even when they were instructed not to. The fans mingled so long throughout the constant announcements to move to the hallway to the point where the lights in the gym were shut off.

Coaches go back, a ways back

Hagerty coach Juanita Hitt and Wheatley go back a long way.

Before she married, Hitt was Juanita Barb, a standout player at Bayshore High School.

In 1996, Barb was a first-team selection on the Herald-Tribune All-Area team. She was known for her quickness, leaping ability and all-around play. Barb led the Bruins in service points and kills along with averaging more than two blocks per game.

The same year, Wheatley was Co-Coach of the Year with Booker High’s Bobbie Dean. In his third year as coach, Venice won 30 matches and lost two. Wheatley’s team set a record for 24 consecutive victories and won its second district title in three seasons.

Venice also won 30 matches in 1997.

Barb went on to play at University of Montevallo in Alabama, a Division II school, on a volleyball scholarship and at Jacksonville University, where she graduated in 2002.

Dennis Maffezzoli is the deputy sports editor for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune and chief reporter for Sarasota Herald-Tribune and HTpreps covering Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. Support local journalism by subscribing. 

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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Venice volleyball wins sixth state volleyball title