Lake Howell repeats as Class 2A boys volleyball state champion

Lake Howell did not cruise to a repeat title. It earned it in the tight moments, the kind that turn a good program into a standard others in Seminole County will study.

The Silverhawks outlasted Archbishop McCarthy 25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 27-25 in the Class 2A semifinal before edging Belen Jesuit 27-25, 26-24, 31-29 in the championship match at Polk State College’s Winter Haven Health Center. Lake Howell had to withstand a 2-1 deficit in the semifinal and survive a comeback attempt in the fourth set, then closed the final in three extra-point sets against the top-seeded team.

That title followed Lake Howell’s first boys volleyball state championship in school history in 2025, a breakthrough coach Scott Leman called “20 years in the making.” The repeat only deepened the case that this is no longer a one-off run. Tyler Windt, Lukas Christman, Camilo Gonzalez and Jayke Dent were key contributors to last year’s title, and the 2026 roster again featured a deep core that included Fischer Baggett, Cade Sinness, Kason Bardsley, Shaun Bojko, Xavier Borges, Kaiden Mezalon, Jayden Rivera, Julien Rogers, Ethan Tipton, Zac Crandell and Sawyer Knight.

The structure of the program showed up in the way Lake Howell handled pressure. In the semifinal, the Silverhawks absorbed momentum swings and still finished the last two sets by two points each. In the championship, they kept answering every Belen Jesuit push until the final point of a 31-29 third set. That is the kind of finishing edge that usually comes from repetition, trust and a roster used to playing in high-leverage moments.

Lake Brantley gave Seminole County another state-tournament presence, but the Patriots stopped one round short of the final after a 25-23, 25-18, 25-20 loss to Horizon in the Class 3A semifinal. Lake Brantley entered the final four at 26-4, with Horizon at 27-4, and the matchup carried the feel of two strong teams that had already seen plenty of each other before the postseason tightened. Instead, Horizon seized control and swept away the Patriots’ bid for a title match.

Together, the results offered a countywide snapshot of where boys volleyball stands in Seminole County: Lake Howell setting the pace with a repeat crown, and Lake Brantley close enough to reach the final four but still searching for the last step.