Photo: St. Catherine’s Academy girls – 30x CSSSA Female Volleyball Champions 2024
by William Ysaguirre
BELIZE CITY, Wed. Nov. 6, 2024
The St. Catherine Academy won their 30th consecutive Central Secondary Schools Sports Association (CSSSA) volleyball championship in the finals at the Swift Hall in Belize City on Saturday morning, November 2.
The SCA girls prevailed, 3-1, over their archrivals, the Belize High School (BHS) Rams, in the championship final. Central American U-19 gold medalist Akili Jones hammered 27 kills and served an ace to easily win the 1st set, 25-13. Amaya Lino hammered 9 kills, scored a kill block and served an ace, while team captain Emma Solano scored 10 hits and served 2 aces, and Sara Safa came off the bench to serve a final ace to win the 2nd set, 25-18.
Photo: Belize High School girls – CSSSA Female Volleyball Sub-Champions 2024
Rhea Tsai rallied the BHS counterattack, scoring 2 hits, 8 kill blocks and serving 2 aces, while Hannah Auil hammered 6 kills. Abigail Sharp scored 5 hits, and Dasialynn Thurton served up 5 aces and scored 2 hits for BHS to win the 3rd set, 25-21.
Photo: Best Setter – Carly Vaccaro (BHS)
BHS fought to take the game to a 5th set, as Carly Vaccaro served 3 aces and scored a hit. Bricel Romero came off the bench to serve 4 aces, and Isabel Mungal scored a hit. SCA had 14 service faults and also conceded 22 more points by unforced errors.
Photo: Best Libero – Zazil Marin (SCA)
However, SCA’s Sofia Reshetina scored 2 hits and served an ace, Jaycee Usher had 2 kill blocks and served an ace, and liberos Zazil Marin and Demi Solano rotated onto the court to defend whenever SCA lost the serve. They also benefited from BHS’ 11 service faults and 26 errors to win the 4th set, 25-20, and the match.
The Anglican Cathedral College (ACC) girls won the consolation match for 3rd place in a hard-fought duel with the Edward P. Yorke girls that went the full five sets. Kleeyah Garvin led the E.P. Yorke attack, with Sanaya Chung, Kyana Requeña, Amber Ranguy and C’la Ranguy scoring hits on balls set by Jamaya Jones, and Briyah Bernardez and Rayna Stou came off the bench to win the first 2 sets, 25-22, 25-22.
But Kristi Mai and Felicia Bishop rallied the ACC counterattack, with Nikia Paulino, Jeslynn Castillo and Keyana Casimiro scoring hits on plays set by Deannie Wright to win the 3rd and 4th sets, 25-22, 25-11. And K’lyn Sinclair and Linel Gomez joined the fray to help ACC win the match-clinching 5th set, 15-6.
SCA had qualified to the finals by eliminating the E.P. Yorke girls, 25-9, 25-8, in last Wednesday’s semifinals; while the BHS girls advanced by eliminating the ACC girls, 25-10, 25-13, in the semifinals last Thursday. The SCA girls had entered the playoffs undefeated with 5 wins, having returned from their Bronze medal win at the CODICADER Games in El Salvador to trounce the Pallotti High girls, 25-17, 25-4, on Monday, October 21. They then crushed the ACC girls, 25-16, 25-4, for their 5th win on Thursday, October 24.
The BHS girls had entered the playoffs with 5 wins and one loss, having enjoyed their 5th win, 25-16, 25-13, over ACC on October 17.
The CSSSA executive committee presented team trophies and individual medals to the champions and sub-champions in the awards ceremony after the finals, and the 3rd place winners – the ACC girls received a certificate plaque of participation.
Photo: MVP & Best Hitter – Akili Jones (SCA)
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS: Best Hitter – Akili Jones (SCA); Best Libero – Zazil Marin (SCA); Best Setter – Carly Vaccaro (BHS); Most Valuable Player – Akili Jones (SCA).
The SCA girls will represent the Central region at the upcoming National Secondary Schools Sports Association (NSSSA) volleyball championships to be hosted by the Belize High School of Agriculture at the Orange Walk Multipurpose Complex on Friday and Saturday, November 8-9. They will compete against the Northern regional champions – Orange Walk Technical High, the Western champions – Sacred Heart College, and the Southern champions, Toledo Community College. The format of the tournament has already been decided by a draw, by which Central meets North, and South plays the West in the semifinals on Friday afternoon. The winners advance to the finals, while the losers will play for third place on Saturday morning.