- April 18, 2024
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ORLANDO — Before she was the senior setter and a captain for this year’s Olympia Titans volleyball team, before she was a sophomore who was thrust into a prominent role on a veteran team by way of an injury, and before she was a freshman who came in and immediately found a roster spot with the varsity team, Lorissa King was a face in the stands at Olympia home games.
“She’s a little volleyball rat — she came to pretty much every home game we had as an eighth-grader,” head coach Mitch Sadowsky said. “I would watch her watch Ashlee Hodgskin. Ashlee was a phenomenal setter, and Lo wanted to grow up and be like her. … That said a lot to me where I think she had the drive, she’s got the ability, and she had a realistic goal in mind of what she wants to be.”
Two years later, as a sophomore playing behind Camila Rivas — a talented setter who was a year older than King — King got a reality check when Rivas tore her ACL and meniscus during a game early in the season. That moment, one in which King was both fearful for her teammate and nervous about assuming that role, is one she remembers well.
“That was scary,” she said. “When (Rivas) went down, it was kind of like a lot of emotion going through my head. I was like, ‘Please get up because I’m scared, and I’m only a sophomore.’ That’s a lot of responsibility to take over a very experienced team.”
Thanks to the support of Sadowsky and her upperclassmen teammates, though, King did just that. Although intimidating, she improved during high-profile matches against Hagerty and Dr. Phillips (the match against the Panthers was televised that year) and eventually was a part of a team that made it all the way to the regional championship that fall.
“We were very fortunate that we had a very deep, experienced, talented group her sophomore year where we could take a lot of the pressure off of her,” Sadowsky said. “I don’t think we had any drop-off (between Rivas and King).”
Fast-forward two more years, and King is currently one of just two seniors on a young team that, to this point, has been taking names. Olympia is 15-3 and most recently went 4-1 at the Dr. Phillips/Edgewater Tournament at Orlando Volleyball Academy last weekend.
Because of the young nature of the team, King tempered her expectations going into the season but now feels like anything is possible.
“The goal now is just to keep winning — make it through districts, make it to regionals, make it to states,” King said.
For Sadowsky, having King, with whom he has worked for four years, is a major advantage.
“She knows me better than anybody else on this team, and there’s a reason why she is a captain,” Sadowsky said. “She knows my expectations.”
King’s college recruitment picked up noticeably during her junior club season at OVA, and she said she has several promising visits lined up in near future.
For now, she and her teammates are preparing for a rivalry match with a highly ranked West Orange team Thursday at home, followed by a road match Oct. 6 at Apopka and a big-time home finale Oct. 14 against powerhouse—Boone.
King, who has been immersed in the winning environment the program has fostered over the years, thinks this year’s team has the right stuff.
“What I love about this team is, right when we got the varsity team together, it was like we were already a family,” King said. “There’s just a lot of trust that’s there and I think everyone really wants to win. … They just have the mindset.”
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Whatever program Lorissa King chooses, she’ll be continuing a tradition of Titans who have played in college:
Ashlee Hodskin,
senior, Saint Leo
Hodgskin transferred to Olympia before her senior year and helped lead the Titans to a district title. A standout for both Olympia and the Top Select club team, Hodgskin played her freshman season at FIU before transferring to Saint Leo. Now a senior, she leads her conference in assists per set at 11.47.
Camila Rivas,
freshman, Saint Louis
Despite a devastating injury to her left knee that caused her to miss most of her junior season, Camila Rivas, a former AAU All-American for Orlando Volleyball Academy, still managed to sign with the Billikens. Seeing limited action as a freshman on a team that has won 11-consecutive matches, Rivas has 10 assists so far this season.
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Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].
