Benjamin wins to earn spot in 4A state match

NORTH PALM BEACH — Benjamin is heading back to the state championship. The host Buccaneers rallied to win a thrilling second set to gain the momentum and they swept Riviera Prep 25-11, 26-24, 25-15 in a Class 4A girls volleyball state semifinal.

Benjamin(16-3) reached the state championship for the second consecutive year and will play Carrollwood Day or The Providence School on Thursday at 4 p.m. at the University of North Florida Arena in Jacksonville.

After cruising in the first set, the Buccaneers battled in a back-and-forth tightly contested second set. After trailing 24-23, sophomore Sierra Barron stepped up with her serve and had two aces to lift the Buccaneers.

“We were down, and to persevere and push through speaks volumes of our leadership and confidence and we were determined to win,” Benjamin coach Alex Clarke said.

Benjamin was led by sophomore Ellie Blain, who had a team-high 14 kills. Sophomore Heather Sley registered 10 kills while senior Katy Blain added eight kills.

Barron finished with 30 assists, 11 digs, and five aces. Lauren Lindahl also recorded eight digs.

The Buccaneers have won 11 of their last 12 matches. Benjamin had previously swept both Miami Country Day and Sagemont to reach the state semifinals.

The Buccaneers girls volleyball team is looking for their first state championship in school history. They fell in three sets last season in the finals to The First Academy.

“We have a strong senior class and the sophomores have been ready and it has been fun to watch all of our players,” Clarke said. “The girls have worked hard to have another chance to win.”

VENICE 25-25-25, ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 21-22-17: There will be no four-peat. The Raiders made the three-hour trip to the west coast on Saturday with dreams and hopes of a fourth consecutive Class 8A state championship.

But with the likes of ultra-talented players like Brooke Bauer (Pepperdine), Allison Marble (North Carolina State) and Emma Dixon (Tulane) having graduated, squaring off against nationally ranked Venice in a packed, hostile and noisy gym proved way too much to ask for the Raiders as they were swept by the Indians in a Class 8A state semifinal at Venice High School.

The loss brought to an end a streak of 18 consecutive postseason wins for the Raiders (21-6), dating back to a state semifinal loss to Oviedo four years ago and second only to Cardinal Gibbons’ 26 straight postseason wins from 1984-90.

“We were just a calamity of errors today, didn’t pass well, didn’t receive well, hitting errors, blocking errors, you name it,” said St. Thomas head coach Lisa Zielinski. “And when you’re going up against a team as good as Venice and we knew how good they were coming in, you just can’t make those kinds of mistakes because they’ll take advantage of that and they did.”

A close first set that saw neither team lead by more than two points turned sour for the Raiders when Venice went on a 6-0 run to break free from a 15-15 tie, eventually closing out a 25-21 win. The second set was tied 19-19 when a key block by Venice’s top outside hitter Kelly Hubbard turned the momentum in the Indians’ direction paving the way for a 25-22 win.

Having won 32 consecutive sets coming into Saturday’s contest, clearly the Raiders were not used to being down two sets in any match and it showed as Venice controlled the third set all the way in to close things out.

“I personally think we just had too much on our plates,” said senior setter Paula Cerame, who finished with six kills and 12 digs and who was on all three championship teams and hoping to close out her high school career knowing nothing but state titles.

TAMPA BERKELEY PREP 25-25-30, PINE CREST 21-11-28: The visiting Panthers — one win from their first state final appearance since 2014 and two victories from their first state championship since 2003 — finished the season at 18-2.