Volleyball Recap: Horizon Falls Despite Big Games from Ian Oliveira and Jonathan Nogueira

It's hard to turn regular season success into postseason wins, a fact Horizon can now relate to. They fell just short of the Freedom Patriots by a score of 3-2 on Thursday. While the Hawks didn't get the win, they did start the game off strong, beating the Patriots 25-21 in the first set.

Horizon actually scored more points across those five sets (115-110), but sadly they still had to settle for second. The final score came out to 21-25, 27-25, 18-25, 25-23, 19-17.

Ian Oliveira

Assists

05/01/25 @ Freedom	52
04/29/25 vs Dr. Phillips	27
04/17/25 vs Windermere	35
04/15/25 @ Lake Howell	19
04/12/25 vs West Orange	12
+ 10 more games

Despite the loss, Horizon had strong showings from Jonathan Nogueira, who had 20 digs and two assists, and Ian Oliveira, who had 18 digs and three aces. Oliveira is also on a roll when it comes to assists, as he's now posted 12 or more in each of the last 15 games he's played.

Horizon dropped their record down to 16-10 with the defeat, which was their third straight on the road. As for Freedom, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won 17 of their last 19 matches. That's provided a nice bump to their 22-5 record this season.

Horizon wasted no time getting back out on the court and has already played their next contest, a 3-0 win against Lake Nona on the 6th. As for Freedom, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next game, a 3-0 victory against Poinciana on the 6th.