SF VOLLEYBALL
Santa Fe College volleyball coach Nick Cheronis has wasted no time putting together his roster for the upcoming 2014 season, inking two more players to his inaugural signing class on Wednesday afternoon.
Jane Early (Oviedo High School) and Sara Lounsbury (Lake Mary High School) both come from championship programs and Coach Cheronis expects them to have an immediate impact in the new program’s first season.
“I couldn’t be more excited to have Jane and Sara as part of the first ever recruiting class at Santa Fe,” said Cheronis. “They are not just great volleyball players, but also great students and very high character. They also both come from extremely successful club and high school programs. Jane’s high school, Oviedo High School was 2013 FHSAA Class 7A State Champions while Sara’s high school, Lake Mary High School was 2013 FHSAA Class 8A State Runner-Up. They are both the type of student athlete that will make us highly competitive immediately.”
Early played middle blocker for the Oviedo Lions and produced both offensively and defensively contributing 77 total blocks in 2013. As a senior, she was selected as team captain and helped lead the Lions to the programs first ever FHSAA State Championship. She will play for the prestigious Orlando Volleyball Academy this spring in preparation for the fall.
“I’m very excited for this opportunity,” Early said. “Being a part of the first ever volleyball team at Santa Fe and learning from Coach Cheronis is going to be an awesome experience.”
Early impressed Coach Cheronis at the open tryout in January, enough that she earned a scholarship offer that night.
“Jane is a jet quick middle with a huge upside,” commented Cheronis. “She came to a tryout in January and absolutely buried the ball. With that quickness and arm speed, she is going to be very hard to stop in the middle.”
Lounsbury, a teammate of Early with Orlando Volleyball Academy, excelled for Lake Mary High School as an outside hitter. She played three years on the varsity squad and helped lead the Rams to three district titles, two regional titles, two State Final Four appearances, and was named team captain her senior season.
She also made an immediate impact at the January tryout and Cheronis sees her as an integral part of the team’s plans in the fall.
“Sara has the rare quality of being a six rotation outside hitter,” Cheronis said. “She has excellent ball control skills combined with being a highly intelligent attacker. I am expecting her to help us out all over the floor on offense and defense.”
Early and Lounsbury join Ann Lorrayne Bzoch as the first members of the Santa Fe Saints volleyball team.
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