Divine Savior and St. Thomas Aquinas win volleyball tournaments. Plus, golf, bowling, swimming

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The St. Thomas Aquinas girls’ volleyball team won the BCAA Big Eight Volleyball Tournament at Pompano Beach High School.

The Raiders, the top seed, edged second seed Coral Springs Charter 19-25, 25-18, 15-13 in the finals.

Kalin Hubbard (8 kills, 2 blocks), Meredith Dixon (7 kills, 2 blocks), Zori Brown (11 digs, 3 blocks), Liah Perez (11 assists, 9 digs), Zoe Taylor (4 kills, 3 blocks) were top performers against the Panthers (15-4).

Coached by Lisa Zielinski, St. Thomas Aquinas (20-4) beat South Plantation 25-21, 25-18 in the semifinals. Coral Springs Charter came from behind to beat Cardinal Gibbons 21-25, 25-17, 15-9.

The Coral Springs Charter girls’ volleyball team was runner-up at the BCAA Big Eight Tournament.
The Coral Springs Charter girls’ volleyball team was runner-up at the BCAA Big Eight Tournament.

Opening round, St. Thomas Aquinas d. Pompano 25-9, 25-13; Coral Springs Charter d. Cooper City 25-15, 25-15; South Plantation d Western 25-17, 25-17; Cardinal Gibbons d. Cypress Bay 25-17, 17-25, 15-6.

Divine Savior volleyball

The Divine Savior girls’ volleyball team won the Westminster Christian Volleyball Tournament.

The event featured 16 teams, including Divine Savior, Mater Academy and host Westminster Christian, three top teams in the state.

The two-day tournament scheduled pool play on day one and playoffs on day two.

Divine Savior (20-4) went 5-0 en route to the title.

“That was a great weekend of volleyball for our team. We played three solid teams on [day one] and felt good about making it to the gold bracket on [day two],” Divine Savior coach Matt Willems said. “Defeating Mater Academy and Westminster Christian in back-to-back matches was a huge accomplishment. There are probably only a handful of teams in the state that would be able to pull that off. Mater Academy and Westminster Christian are both really, really good teams, and we feel Blessed to be coming away as champions.”

In the semifinals, Divine Savior came from behind to edge Mater Academy 25-27, 25-13, 15-12.

Isabella Mendoza recorded 21 kills and 14 digs in leading Divine Savior into the championship match. Maite Alberdi (9 kills), Belyssa Cruz (10 digs), Isabel Macia (19 assists), and Thalia Iglesias (11 assists) also excelled for the Sharks in the semifinal win over Mater Academy (18-7).

Westminster Christian (20-5) defeated St. Brendan (12-12) in the other semifinal match-up, 25-17, 25-11, setting up the championship showdown with Divine Savior.

Willems noted: “We have a lot of respect for Westminster Christian. [Coach] Julie [Doan Kurenuma] does a great job with her teams, and they motivate us to raise our level of play. Our girls were extremely excited to face them in the championship match.”

Divine Savior jumped out early in the first set before Westminster fought back to tie it. The Sharks responded with their own impressive run to eventually control the set and win 25-18. The second set was back-and-forth from the beginning with Westminster Christian eventually taking it 25-21.

Tied at one set apiece, a third set tiebreaker would determine the champion. The two teams traded points back-and-forth initially, before Divine Savior started to pull away, building an 11-7 lead. Westminster showed a lot of grit to close the gap to 13-11. However, the Sharks eventually closed out the set 15-12 to take the match and the championship.

In the finals, Divine Savior was led by Isabella Mendoza (24 kills and 11 digs), Belyssa Cruz (13 digs), Maite Alberdi (9 kills and 11 digs), Carola Rodriguez (6 kills), Thalia Iglesias (18 assists and 9 digs), and Isabel Macia (17 assists and 9 digs).

The Divine Savior girls’ volleyball team won the Westminster Christian Tournament.
The Divine Savior girls’ volleyball team won the Westminster Christian Tournament.

Willems said: “We had a lot of girls play well in these two great matches. The fans definitely got their money’s worth with these two matches. Wow! Incredible teams with incredible players just going after it. It was a privilege to be a part of and great to come away on top. This was a great day for volleyball fans in South Florida.”

Divine Savior looks to be peaking at the right time with postseason play this week. The Sharks host a 3A district tournament, already advancing to the district semifinals as a top seed on Tuesday.

More volleyball

True North Classical Academy (14-3) is seeded first in its 2A district volleyball tournament at Archbishop Carroll Coleman. The Titans play Tuesday in a district semifinal.

Florida Christian d. Miami Country Day 25-17, 25-16, 25-19: Mylie Sanchez 11 service points, 5 aces, 14 assists, 4 digs; Briley Wellinghoff 10 service points, 1 ace, 13 digs; Mikaela King 7 service points, 9 assists, 2 blocks, 5 digs, 6 kills; Andrea Amador 9 kills, 3 blocks. FCS 17-8

Pine Crest d. Ransom Everglades 21-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-17, 15-8: RE: Julia Lewkowitz 16 kills; Elise Echarte 5 kills; Steph Wallen 18 assists.

Golf

In a battle of two outstanding teams, the American Heritage (Plantation) boys’ golf team defeated Stoneman Douglas 3 1/2 to 2 1/2 via Ryder Cup style (match play) at Lago Mar CC in Plantation.

Rafael Frias sank a 3-foot par putt on the 18th hole to tie the hole and split the match, which gave a half point to the Patriots to clinch the team win.

Results: Luke Clanton (AH) d. Ty Thompson 4&1; Andres Barraza (D) d. Aiden Arce 1up; Sebastian Sacristan (AH) d. Dylan Marrone 2&1; Devan Chahal (D) d. Sohan Patel 3&1; John Pineiro (AH) d. Ryan Shimony 4&1; Rafael Frias (AH) split with Jayden Thuraisingham.

Bowling

BOYS: ATM d. COHEA: ATM: Michael Holman High Game 192, Series 497; Luis Molina High Game 174, Series 469; Jon Figallo High Game 148; Jake Holman High Game 128; Aidan Hayes 104. COHEA: Tyler Keller High Game 227, Series 587; Adair Garcia High Game 181, Series 523; Vincent Teck High Game 128; Meguel Gonzalea High Game 115.

BOYS: Columbus d. Reagan 7-0: High Game Marlon Ruiz (Col) 278; High Series Chris Ferrer (Col) 505. COL (8-1).

BOYS: TERRA d. Cutler Bay 2-1: Casey Puett (T) High Game 270, High Series 690; Christian Farfan (CB) High Game 259, High Series 707.

GIRLS: ATM d. COHEA: ATM: Rocio Sosa High Game 135, Series 327; Veronica Kania High Game 126, Series 358; Cynthia Pajuelo High Game 112; Shadria Bentacourt 101. COHEA: Krystal Fernandez High Game 123, Series 321; Kassandra Fernandez High Game 74, Series 194.

GIRLS: TERRA d. Cutler Bay 3-0: Alexa Puett (T) High Game 186; Ella Perez (T) High Games 175, 189, 218, High Series 582; Gillain Pons (T) High Games 218, 207, 185, High Series 610.

Swimming

BOYS: American Heritage (Plantation) 85, Somerset (Pembroke Pines) 75: 200 medley relay: 1. Somerset (Zepeda, Aldo; Rodriguez, Enrique; Nazario, Diego; Munoz, Gabe) 1:46.45. 200 freestyle: 1. Pereira, Alessandro (AH) 1:51.75. 200 IM: 1. Rodriguez, Enrique (S) 2:03.27. 50 freestyle: 1. Zepeda, Aldo (S) 23.16. 100 butterfly: 1. Pereira, Alessandro (AH) 55.55. 100 freestyle: 1. Prikhodko, Kirill (AH) 50.75. 500 freestyle: 1. Marri, Rithvik (AH) 4:58.26. 200 freestyle relay: 1. American Heritage (Prikhodko, Kirill; Zhou, Tyler; Farkas, Odin; Smith, Joshua) 1:40.50. 100 backstroke: 1. Zepeda, Aldo (S) 55.61. 100 breaststroke: 1. Zhou, Tyler (AH) 1:11.03. 400 freestyle relay: 1. American Heritage (Marri, Rithvik; Pereira, Alessandro; Prikhodko, Kirill; Burg, Daniel) 3:23.32.

GIRLS: Somerset (Pembroke Pines) 88, American Heritage (Plantation) 77: 200 medley relay: 1. American Heritage (Guerrero, Mia; Brinkmann, Wynona; Porter, Amari; Pierre-Antoine, Eva) 2:02.37. 200 freestyle: 1. Prado, Audrey (AH) 2:07.39. 200 IM: 1. Osorio, Sabrina (S) 2:26.41. 50 freestyle: 1. Pierre-Antoine, Eva (AH) 26.92. 100 butterfly: 1. Osorio, Sofia (S) 1:08.00. 100 freestyle: 1. Pierre-Antoine, Eva (AH) 59.90. 500 freestyle: 1. Pinto, Mariana (S) 5:41.83. 200 freestyle relay: 1. American Heritage (Guerrero, Mia; Smolentseva, Nastya; Bond, Mila; Prado, Audrey) 1:55.17. 100 backstroke: 1. Sibug, Natalia (S) 1:07.40. 100 breaststroke: 1. Osorio, Sabrina (S) 1:15.10. 400 freestyle relay: 1. American Heritage (Brinkmann, Wynona; Bond, Mila; Porter, Amari; Pierre-Antoine, Eva) 4:05.36.

Submit sports results

For high schools in Broward and Miami-Dade, if you have varsity results, top performers and stats for this column, email hssports@miamiherald.com.

They will run in the newspaper and online. Photos accepted, too. No deadline. Send after the game, the next day or weekly. You will be alerted when it will appear in the newspaper and online.

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Roundup compiled by Jim Varsallone

jvarsallone@miamiherald.com