It was deja vu for Hialeah Miami Lakes High School’s boys’ volleyball team.
Last week, the Trojans fell to SLAM in the district championship game after their star player, Abraham Castillo, was forced out of the game with an acute injury.
In 2016, HML experienced a similar tale when SLAM defeated the Trojans for the division crown after their star player couldn’t finish the rest of the game due to an injury, conceivably costing the team the title.
Last week’s heartbreaking loss to SLAM (21-25, 25-19, 25-22, 28-30, 8-15), demoralized the Trojans players, but head coach Alex Plaza said his team played hard and should be very proud despite the results.
“We are a pretty good squad and we played very well,” Plaza said. “It was just one of those games when one of our best players got hurt and couldn’t continue to play.”
Following the injury to Castillo, Plaza said his team tried to rally from a 13-24 deficit but SLAM was too much in the end.
“Abraham was our team’s leaders and his injury took some pressure off of SLAM,” said Plaza, who’s been coaching at his alma mater for 19 years.
Despite the loss, the Trojans (19-5) had another good season, Plaza said. “I’m looking forward to next season,” he said.
But next year’s Trojans team will be quite different, as some players are graduating and headed to college.
Outside hitter Andrew Uria is headed to the University of Florida, and he won $500 as the recipient of the Junior Orange Scholarship Award; Ariel Centurion, HML’s career leader in digs is also going to the University of Florida; Frankie Gutierrez and Abraham Gutierrez are Florida International University bound; and setter Franky Zamora is headed to Warner University