Sports
WPVC 17 Armour Black wins AAU girls volleyball championship
When Amber McClain dove face-first into an aluminum bleacher to save one point during the championship match in the AAU Girls Junior National Volleyball Championships, she illustrated perfectly (and dangerously) just how determined the Winter Park Volleyball Club 17 Armour Black team was to win a national title for the first time.
Spectators in the stands gasped when the Winter Park High rising senior leaped over a soft padded barrier to punch the ball back into the court before crashing onto the bottom-row seating. She didn’t cry. She didn’t stop. She popped back up to her feet and scurried back onto the court to help finish the point, then staggered to the bench to be attended to by an athletic trainer at Orlando’s Orange County Convention Center.
“All I was thinking about was keeping the point alive,” McClain said afterward. “And keeping us on track for the national championship.”
Mission accomplished.
McClain had a battle-wound bandage on her forehead when she returned to play. She wore a big smile and later a gold medal as one of the 10 girls on WPVCs 17 Open AAU title team.
Winter Park was leading 17-12 in the second set when McClain made her crash landing. WVCA finished a 25-21, 25-20 Tuesday victory over Far Out 17 of Grand Rapids, Michigan. That secured the first AAU girls Open division championship for a club born in 2011 as a little sister to established Orlando area travel team programs such as Orlando Tampa Volleyball Academy, Top Select and Game Point Volleyball.
-
WPVC 2025 17 Armour Black player Amelia Mancino, (5) spikes the ball during the AAU Girls Volleyball Nationals Tournament in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)
1 of 27
WPVC 2025 17 Armour Black player Amelia Mancino, (5) spikes the ball during the AAU Girls Volleyball Nationals Tournament in Orlando, Fla., Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Willie J. Allen Jr./Orlando Sentinel)
Expand
WPVC, armed with five members of the Winter Park High team that won the Class 7A state championship in November, went 11-0 over four days to make history.
McClain’s fearless dive was part of a surge WPVC delivered after trailing 7-4 in Game 2. The comeback began with Winter Park High’s Amelia Mancino running off six service points — three on ace serves and three on attacks by Isabella Umpierre, another WPHS standout.
“We came in wanting to win it all and this is the moment we’ve all been waiting for,” Umpierre said after the championship match.
The WPVC squad started Tuesday with a 2-0 win against Illini Elite of Illinois and then scored a nail-biting 25-23, 26-24 semifinal victory against perennial power Sports Performance of Illinois. SPVB (11-1) built big leads in both sets before succumbing to WPVC’s resolve.
The Winter Park club was down 14-6 in the first set before going on a 9-1 spree that included a stuff block by Katelyn Landis (West Orange High) and crucial kills by McClain and lethal lefthander Umpierre off sets by Elle Mottola (Boone).
Sports Performance went back ahead 22-20 on two big blocks. WPVC again had the answer. Paige Lehman (Winter Park) dove for two digs that led to a kill by Umpierre, McClain scored on a quick set by Mottola, and Mancino (Winter Park) ended the game with a kill.
WPVC trailed 15-10 in the second set but chipped its way back to a 21-21 tie and went ahead 23-22 on a block by Maddey Cruse (Lake Mary Prep). A Mancino dig forced a SPVB error for a 24-22 lead and Winter Park completed its championship run with an emphatic stuff-block by Umpierre, a 5-foot-10 hitter.
Umpierre, Mancino and Mottola were selected to the 14-player tournament All-American team.
“We’re a family. To do this together is amazing,” said Mottola.
She joined WPVC as a 10-and-under player, as did Lehman and Mancino. Others signed up as the program continued its climb.
Defensive specialist Isabel Bertelsen (Winter Park) and Landis were the first off the bench for a team that includes Gwenyth Berry (Horizon) and Cassidy Flakes (West Orange).
Winter Park overcomes Kissimmee Osceola to reach 7A girls volleyball final
WPVC players who have committed to colleges are Berry (Citadel), Bertelsen (Oregon State), Cruse (Embry-Riddle), Mancino (Appalachian State), Mottola (Arizona State) and Umpierre (UC-Davis).
WPVC beat teams with better-rated prospects to take the title. They did the same while winning a USA Volleyball 17 Open qualifier tournament in Salt Lake City in April — a feat Jackson said was “a huge deal”. Next up is the USA Volleyball 17 Open national tournament, which tips off Monday and runs through July 3 in Dallas.
The WPVC 16 Armour Black team tied for fifth in the AAU 16 Open division with a 9-2 record. Jordyn Lehman, a Winter Park HIgh defensive standout heading into her junior year, was picked to the All-American team.
“Both these teams have cemented a history for WPVC,”: said Matthew Jackson, who was head coach for both the 16s and 17s. “They love to compete. And to see how they’ve bought into each other over these years has been so great.”
Jackson, a former Ocoee high player and West Orange’s head coach for the past two seasons, is leaving the Warriors and WPVC, where he has coached since 2014. After leading West Orange to a 16-5 district title season he landed an assistant coaching job at Michigan State, starting July 7.
His top assistant, Wylie Devlin, is a former Winter Park High multi-sport star who played volleyball collegiately at USF.
The Game Point 17 Rox team went 10-1 and tied for fifth in the 17 Open bracket. Its only loss was vs. Far Out 25-21, 17-25, 15-9 in a quarterfinal. Kissimmee Osceola teammates Jordin Southall and Cate Palmi joined Innovation’s Aylani Correa as standouts for the GP squad coached by Sindee Snow.
The 52nd AAU nationals continues with boys play beginning Monday and running through July 7. The WPVC 17 Armour Black boys are one of the favorites in the 17 Open competition (Monday through July 3).
Winter Park Volleyball Club seeks ‘unprecedented’ title in AAU Nationals | Varsity Weekly
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.
Originally Published: