By Kyle Coppola
Lake-Sumter Volleyball Wins FCSAA Title, Advances to Nationals
Lake-Sumter State College’s volleyball team defeated Hillsborough College 3-1 in the FCSAA Division II tournament final to win the championship and earn a spot in the national tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
The Lakehawks won both the Sun-Lakes Conference regular-season title, the program’s first, and the tournament title.
Samantha “Sammi” Beatty, a Tavares High School graduate, along with Brianna “Bri” Harlan and Joselyn Wanberg, were named to the All-Tournament team. Beatty was selected Most Outstanding Player, and head coach Alisha Wintersdorf was named FCSAA Coach of the Year.
“WE DID IT!! Regular Season AND Conference Tournament Champions! This team has worked so hard for this moment, and we’re not done yet! NATIONALS BOUND! Iowa, see you soon!” Wintersdorf says in a social media post.
Wintersdorf has coached Beatty since middle school and at Tavares High School, and the two head to nationals together. Beatty, a sophomore, is the program’s career kills leader. The Lakehawks’ roster is full of local players.
The national tournament in Cedar Rapids is Nov. 18-21.
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.
