{"id":431631,"date":"2026-10-19T00:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T00:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/431631\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T00:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T00:48:11","slug":"deland-disappointed-to-not-make-volleyball-open-division","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/431631\/","title":{"rendered":"DeLand disappointed to not make volleyball Open Division"},"content":{"rendered":"

To nobody\u2019s surprise, Orangewood Christian\u2019s girls volleyball team is the No. 1 seed for the Florida High School Athletic Association\u2019s new Open Division<\/a> state tournament.<\/p>\n

The Rams (25-2) were ranked No. 4 nationally by MaxPreps from the start to the finish in the regular season, and cruised through two district tournament matches last week. That puts them on top of the Open Division, which shines the spotlight on the eight highest-ranked teams in the state in a format that begins with three rounds of pool play \u2014 starting Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Orangewood will host No. 5 Gulliver Prep (22-5) of Miami to open its bid for its first state championship since it won 2005 and 2006 titles under coach Diane Langmo, who is still at the helm in her 37th year as the Rams head coach.<\/p>\n

Winter Park (21-6), which returned just one starter after winning the past the two large-class state titles, joins the Rams in the Open Division as the No. 4 seed. The Wildcats are joined by Gulliver and sixth seed Beachside (24-3) of St. Johns in four-team Pool A.<\/p>\n

The four other top eight teams are in Pool B, where second-ranked Calvary Christian (27-1) of Clearwater is the top seed.<\/p>\n

The winner and runners-up of the two pools advance to the state tournament for semifinals and the final, Nov. 6-7, at Polk State College in Winter Haven.<\/p>\n

The FHSAA promised drama when it launched the Open Division concept for volleyball, football and nine other team bracket sports. And controversy unfolded in Sunday\u2019s YouTube channel bracket reveal show.<\/p>\n

A surprise was seeing DeLand (24-3) fall short of the top eight in the all-classification rankings. That knocked the Bulldogs out of the prestigious Open Division picture. They will instead stay in the 32-team Class 6A bracket, which has the state\u2019s largest schools by enrollment.<\/p>\n

DeLand was No. 6 in the Oct. 9 FHSAA rankings and cruised through its two district matches last week. But it was bypassed by Beachside, First Baptist (17-6) of Naples and Santa Fe (23-3) of Alachua, and dropped out of the top eight in the updated rankings used to seed all playoff classifications.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy girls were really looking forward to the opportunity to play in the new Open bracket, so there was some disappointment,\u201d DeLand coach Rhea Simon said after watching the reveal show.<\/p>\n

Orangewood, DeLand, Winter Park could go Open in historic FHSAA volleyball playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like our girls did a great job and definitely proved that we could be up there with and handle ourselves. We can only control what we control. The next thing is focusing on a 6A state championship. The goal is to bring that home with us. We are motivated for sure to go after that state title.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeLand has wins against two teams that made the Open cut \u2014 Winter Park and Santa Fe. The Bulldogs homecourt 27-25, 25-22, 25-18 sweep against reigning state champion Winter Park came in the first week of the season and its 29-27, 25-23 win against Class 3A Santa Fe was in a Sept. 12 neutral-court tournament match.<\/p>\n

The Bulldogs\u2019 losses were to Orangewood (twice) and the No. 1 team in Alabama, McGill-Tooten (39-2).<\/p>\n

\u201cDeLand beat us in straight sets. We\u2019ve improved exponentially since then, but that was kind of a shock for me,\u201d Winter Park coach Stephanie Gibson said of DeLand\u2019s omission. \u201cWe have six losses, but we know strength of a schedule is a huge factor in the rankings. To me, it looks like the strength of opponents in your district tournaments means a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

The FHSAA rankings are computed by MaxPreps, which does not reveal details of its proprietary formula. The company has said every game played by every team, and results of all of those teams opponents, all the way down the line, are included. That means a team\u2019s number can change even while it\u2019s not playing matches.<\/p>\n

Orangewood will travel Saturday to play Sante Fe in round two of pool play. The Rams then host Winter Park on Oct. 28.<\/p>\n

Winter Park, which returned just one starter from its 2024 and 2025 state title teams, opens with a Wednesday home game against Beachside and stays home for its second pool play match against Gulliver Prep of Miami on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a travel point of view, we got a good draw,\u201d Gibson said. \u201cPlaying two at home and then going about 10 minutes down the road to play Orangewood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Open Division uncertainty clouds Orangewood volleyball playoff picture | Varsity Report<\/a><\/p>\n

In the traditional classes, four Orlando area teams are top seeds and are positioned to play all three region rounds at home.<\/p>\n

DeLand, No. 1 in 6A Region 1, will host No. 8 Navarre (12-2) in a Wednesday quarterfinal.<\/p>\n

Horizon (22-3), which scored a regular season win against Winter Park, is No. 1 in 6A-3.<\/p>\n

Two Kissimmee teams, Osceola (21-6) and Gateway (20-3) are the 1-2 seeds in 5A Region 2. The Kowboys edged Gateway 25-22, 17-25, 20-25, 25-19, 15-8 to win the District 3 title.<\/p>\n

Bishop Moore (20-7) is No. 1 for 4A-2.<\/p>\n

Oviedo (24-3) is the second seed in 6A-2 behind DeLand and drew backyard rival Hagerty (11-14) for the first round. Two other Seminole County teams, Lake Brantley (15-11) and Seminole-Sanford (16-9) also have home matches.<\/p>\n

Freedom (21-6), which celebrated its first girls volleyball district title, must travel to play a higher-ranked district winner, Winter Haven (23-4).<\/p>\n

Montverde Academy (13-12) secured a Tuesday home game by winning the 3A District 6 final against Lake Highland Prep (14-11), which has to go on the road.<\/p>\n

The First Academy, Foundation Academy and International Community also play at home Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Here are the pairings for region quarterfinals and Open Division first-round matches involving Orlando area teams:<\/p>\n

No. 1 Orangewood takes 19-0 Florida record into Open Division | Volleyball Report<\/a><\/p>\n

Open Division<\/p>\n

Wednesday<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 5 Gulliver Prep\u00a0 (22-5) at No. 1 Orangewood (25-2)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 6 Beachside (24-3) at No. 4 Winter Park (21-6)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 7 First Baptist (17-6) at No. 3 Plant (15-4)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 8 Santa Fe-Alachua (23-3) at No. 2 Calvary-Clearwater (27-1)<\/p>\n

6A Region 1<\/p>\n

Wednesday<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 8 Navarre (12-12) at No. 1 DeLand (24-3)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 5 Buchholz (13-9) at No. 4 Seminole-Sanford (16-9)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 6 Forest (15-13) at No. 3 Lake Brantley (15-11)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 7 Hagerty (11-14) at No. 2 Oviedo (24-3)<\/p>\n

6A Region 2<\/p>\n

Wednesday<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 8 Lake Nona (13-8) at No. 1 Horizon (22-3)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 7 Freedom (21-6) at No. 2 Winter Haven (23-4)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 6 Boone (17-10) at No. 3 West Orange (16-5)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 5 George Jenkins (12-13) at No. 4 Olympia (15-12)<\/p>\n

5A Region 2<\/p>\n

Wednesday<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 8 Melbourne (15-7) at No. 1 Osceola (21-6)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 5 Lake Howell (18-10) at No. 4 Viera (18-9)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 7 Winter Springs (13-14) at No. 2 Gateway (20-3)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 6 Lake Minneola (17-10) at No. 3 Bartow (20-7)<\/p>\n

4A Region 2<\/p>\n

Wednesday<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 8 Lake Wales (7-12) at No. 1 Bishop Moore (20-7)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 3 New Smyrna Beach (16-11) at No. 4 Mount Dora (13-9)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 6 Weeki Wachee (13-13) at No. 3 River Ridge (21-7)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 7 Lecanto (16-9) at No. 2 Satellite (20-6)<\/p>\n

3A Region 2<\/p>\n

Tuesday<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 8 Space Coast (14-11) at No. 1 Merritt Island (22-6)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 7 Astronaut (14-10) at No. 2 Academy Holy Names (19-8)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 4 Lake Highland (14-11) at No. 5 Villages (20-8)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 6 McKeel (17-10) at No. 3 Montverde (13-12)<\/p>\n

2A Region 1<\/p>\n

Tuesday<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 8 Trinity Prep (14-5) at No. 1 Trinity Catholic-Ocala (21-5)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 4 Oak Hall (22-3) at No. 5 Destin (13-6)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 6 Episcopal (16-12) at No. 3 Trinity Christian-Jacksonville (22-6)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 7 Maclay (15-10) at No. 2 The First Academy (18-7)<\/p>\n

2A Region 2<\/p>\n

Tuesday<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 8 Holy Trinity (11-14) at No. 1 Northside Christian (23-5)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 5 Clearwater Central Catholic (15-12) at No. 4 Carrollwood (19-6)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 2 Tampa Prep (19-7) at No. 7 Foundation Academy (17-8)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 6 Shorecrest (21-4) at No. No. 2 Tampa Prep (19-7)<\/p>\n

1A Region 2<\/p>\n

Tuesday<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 8 Lake Mary Prep (17-10) at No. 1 St. Edwards (19-4)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 4 Geneva School (14-12) at No. 5 Meadowbrook (16-1)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 6 Merritt Island Christian (14-9) at No. 3 International Community (11-9)<\/p>\n

\u2022 No. 7 Orlando Christian Prep (13-9) at No. 2 Brevard HEAT (21-5)<\/p>\n

FHSAA\u2019s Open Division playoffs set for 2026-27; 8 top-ranked teams collide<\/a><\/p>\n

Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To nobody\u2019s surprise, Orangewood Christian\u2019s girls volleyball team is the No. 1 seed for the Florida High School…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[3745,139,141,140,76046,76642,110],"class_list":["post-431631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-high-school-sports","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-social-sports","tag-social-varsity-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431631","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}