HAMILTON-WENTWORTH CATHOLIC DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD
Brébeuf Edges Newman in Five Sets to Capture Volleyball Championship

The St. John Henry Newman Cardinals' streak of championship victories in novice girls' high school volleyball has been snapped.

After three straight Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic league titles, the Cardinals were defeated 3-2 Monday by the visiting St. Jean de Brébeuf Braves.

Photo by Richard Andoga

The score in the deciding set set was 15-12.

During the regular schedule, Newman ended up in first place with an 11-1 record. In second spot, Brebeuf was 9-3.

"Newman is a great team," Brébeuf coach Martino Salciccioli said. "We never won a game against them (in two regular-season matches). I'm happy we got a chance to play them in this final.

"Win or lose, I would have been proud of our team."

The Braves took the opening set, 26-24. That was followed by 26-24 and 25-11 wins for Newman to force a tie-breaker.

"There was a point in the last set where it was 10-10," Brebeuf captain Jessica Marcuzzi said. "We said if we wanted to win it we would have to go for every single ball ... nothing drops.

"We fought as hard as we could."

Marcuzzi is one of Brebeuf's four rep players.

"Jess was absolutely fantastic," the Braves coach said, "someone we could always rely on.

"She is a team player willing to help others develop their skills who maybe didn't know as much."

Top point-getters for the Braves were Isabella Caprio, Mia Contenta, Mia Verticchio and Marcuzzi.

The rest of the lineup was comprised of Leah Raposo, Khadidja Mahamat Abdoulaye, Stefania Guerriero, Maria Cortes, Yasmeen El-Kahlout and Elena Bogias.

"It was a close match," Salciccioli said. "We have a great group of girls who work together well."

Marcuzzi said a key factor in the outcome was Brebeuf's on-court communication.

"When we were talking and calling where we were supposed to be," she said, "everything was going well. If we weren't, we kind of fell short.

"I think we are two evenly balanced teams."

Said Newman coach Brian Pavlic: "Both teams served really well. They outpassed us a bit and they outscrapped us today."

Pavlic said the contest was exciting and he wouldn't call the final result a major upset.

"We knew they were up-and-coming," he said. "Novice is such a close league. It was anyone's game. We battled them right to the end."

According to Salciccioli, the Braves "bonded" as a group this season by being together at three previous tournaments. He pointed out that some Brebeuf senior team members also assisted in skill development of the Grade 9 players.

In earlier semifinal playoff action, Newman topped the St. Mary Crusaders, 3-0, and Brébeuf edged the ACMT Jaguars, 3-2.

Recently, at the junior girls' level, Newman's volleyball team finished atop the league standings (14-0) but lost, 3-1, to the second-place St. Thomas More Knights in the final.

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