St. Thomas sweeps W. Boca
Raiders advance to regional finals
BOCA RATON — On the hunt for its fourth consecutive girls volleyball state title, St. Thomas Aquinas is peaking at the right time yet again.
On Wednesday night, the Raiders went on the road and swept West Boca in three games (25-19, 25-23, 25-14) to advance to the Class 8A regional finals. St. Thomas, whose last defeat came on Sep. 30 in a tournament in Arizona, has reeled off 11 straight wins.
“I’m really happy with how we played,” said St. Thomas coach Lisa Zielinski. “[Our players] handled what West Boca threw at us and they’re a very good team.”
“I don’t think we feel we were at our best a few weeks ago. I really feel we’re playing the best volleyball that we’ve played all season.
St. Thomas will face the winner of Mater Academy/ Reagan on Tuesday with a spot in the state tournament on the line.
After winning the first game, the Raiders had to grind out a hard-fought victory in the second game. St. Thomas held a 17-13 lead, but the Bulls clawed back to tie the game at 21. The teams alternated the next three points, until the Raiders were able to notch the final two points, capped off by Sophia Davis’ ace to end the game.
“You’ve got to be resilient and I really feel we did well with that tonight,” said Zielinski. “We came out ahead a little bit on the few extra points that got us that second game, which was really big with us in our momentum going into the third.”
In the final game, West Boca (23-6) jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead, but the Raiders answered with a scoring barrage, winning 21 of the next 26 points to take a commanding 22-9 lead and extinguish the Bulls’ comeback attempt.
For the Raiders, Davis finished with 15 kills and four blocks. Senior Paula Cerame totaled eight kills, 12 digs and three aces, while junior Amanda Silvestri notched 18 digs and eight service points.