One of the best high school volleyball tournaments in Florida took place this past weekend at Westminster Christian. The tournament saw 16 teams from South Florida take the court with pool play on Friday and tournament action on Saturday. Three of the top teams in the state and all from the Miami-Dade area were involved. Those three being Westminster Christian, Mater Academy, and Divine Savior. When the final whistle blew Saturday afternoon it was Divine Savior coming away with five victories and the title of tournament champions. “That was a great weekend of volleyball for our team. We played three solid teams on Friday and felt good about making it to the gold bracket on Saturday. 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.” commented head coach Matt Willems

The Sharks of Divine Savior first played Mater Academy in the semifinals before taking on Westminster Christian. Mater Academy took the first set 27-25 before the Sharks came back to win the final two sets 25-23 and 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 had great performances for the Sharks in the win.

Westminster Christian defeated St. Brendan in their semifinal matchup setting up the championship match with Divine Savior. With two of the premier volleyball programs in South Florida facing off, it was sure to be a great match. “We have a lot of respect for Westminster Christian. Julie 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.” stated coach Willems.

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 serve with Westminster Christian eventually taking it 23-21. That brought us to the final and tiebreaking third set. The two teams traded points back-and-forth initially before Divine Savior started to pull away and eventually took an 11-7 lead. Westminster showed a lot of grit in fighting back to close the gap to just 13-11 for Divine Savior. However, the Sharks eventually closed out the set 15-12 to take the match and the championship.
Divine Savior was lead 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). “We had a lot of girls play well today 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.” commented coach Matt Willems.

Divine Savior now moves to 19-4 on the season and looks to climb in the FHSAA rankings. The Sharks finish off their regular season this week with a home game against Westminster Academy and a road trip to St. Thomas Aquinas on Thursday. Divine Savior looks to be peaking at just the right time of the season. Look for them to be a tough team to beat come postseason play.