Talent-laden roster gelling for undefeated West Orange volleyball -- Observer Preps

When the West Orange volleyball team is firing on all cylinders, it can be a thing to behold — much as it was Sept. 20, when the Warriors swept powerhouse Bishop Moore in a televised game. 

It was the first time West Orange had beaten Bishop Moore in head coach Ross Usie’s seven seasons leading the team, and Usie believes it is the first time the Warriors have beaten the Hornets since the program’s inception. 

West Orange left no doubt in the victory, as volley after volley saw one of the Warriors’ athletic hitters rising up for a kill, dominating the net with a block or diving across the hardwood for a dig.

“It’s so fun — we all just get so excited for each other, and the crowd goes wild,” senior Baylor Bumford said. “We love playing for each other.”

That’s a scary thought for opposing teams. 

Six of West Orange’s seven starters are committed to Division I college programs: Bumford is committed to UNC-Wilmington, senior Makala Heidelberg is committed to Tulane, senior Blake Hollis is committed to Cornell, junior Kaeli Crews is committed to South Carolina, junior Torey Baum is committed to Southern California and sophomore Taylor Head is committed to Arkansas.

They all play high-level club volleyball during the varsity offseason, many competing at a national level. 

At times, the showcase of raw athleticism and technical skill the Warriors put on display can make the varsity team mistakable for a high-level club team.

“That’s what keeps us going — we always talk about having energy,” Heidelberg said. “We have the athleticism, and we try and work on the mental part of the game.”

The mental part of the game, which also can be understood as the challenge of getting a group of elite club players to come together as one for varsity season, seems to be coming along nicely this fall.

The Warriors are 16-0 and — with two exceptions — every match has been a sweep. 

“We’ve been talking about a lot of things like teamwork and working together instead of playing as individual talents,” Usie said. “We have all the talent — we need to be playing together.”

Statistically, those efforts are bearing themselves out, with different players excelling in different areas.

Head (3.7 kills per set, 172 total kills), Heidelberg (3.0 kills per set, 98 total kills) and Crews (2.7 kills per set, 122 total kills) lead the Warriors’ dynamic attack.

Bumford thrives in the role of getting them the ball, with a team-high 360 assists this fall — good for an average of 8.6 assists per set.

Defensively, Hollis (45 total blocks) is dominant at the net, while Baum leads the team in digs (143).

Despite everything that might be going right, though, there is a bit of recent history Usie and the team’s seniors can use to keep the squad grounded and humble: For all their individual success the past few years, the Warriors have never made it to state.

In fact, they were swept in the regional championship round the past two seasons, by Winter Springs and Oviedo, respectively.

So, although the regular season still has a few weeks remaining, it does not seem likely this group is going rest on its laurels.

“A lot of it is that we know — for  the seniors, especially — we know it’s our final year,” Bumford said. “We want to go out with a bang and make this program great for the years to come.”