Dwyer’s special season ends in regional loss
The bus ride home from southeast Miami to West Palm Beach was filled with the moist eyes of the Dwyer girls volleyball team.
Its historic season that featured its first district championship since at least 1995 ended in fourth tough sets to second-seeded host Lourdes Academy in the state Class 6A Region 4 semifinals. The scores of the 3-1 final count were 2927, 25-22, 20-25, 25-18.
It meant the end of the high school careers of four Dwyer seniors, including 6-foot-5 star Mila Micunovic, who is committed to Division I Fordham.
“We put it all out on the court today,'' Micunovic said. “I'm proud of the way we played the whole season and got out of difficult situations. I'm crying now but I'll be proud afterwards.''
Dwyer, which upset West Boca to win districts, ended its year at a sterling 16-7. Dwyer, seeded third, has never been known as a girls volleyball powerhouse. “We don't even have a girls volleyball banner in the gym but we will now,'' said first-year coach Wyatt Hamilton said.
Samantha Homberger, a junior, was on one of the stars Saturday – the libero who made 23 digs.
“There was a good bit if that (crying),'' Homberger said. “No one wanted the season to end yet. We had one of our best seasons but we wanted to go further. We're all sad but at the end of the day we're proud of what we did.”
The match started with theatrics going beyond the distance, but Dwyer came up short at 29-27.
“The first two sets were super close,'' Hamilton said. “The first one was probably the best set of the year in terms of overall play. A lot of high energy. It was a lot of fun.''
“The first set everyone was getting excited and it transferred to the court,'' Micunovic said.
Micunovic admitted it wasn't her best game but she still notched 17 kills and 3 blocks. Kate McKillop completed 13 kills and Bella Levitt recorded five blocks.
“I could've made less errors,'' Micunovic said. “I put too much pressure on myself. It was definitely the best season I've had with Dwyer. A lot of fun with the girls and we were very competitive.''
The way it ended was a bitter pill to swallow. In the fourth set, after gaining momentum with a third-set survival, Dwyer won a point to make it 1513 but the Panthers had served out of rotation. The score reverted to 16-12 and the Miami school romped from there. “We unraveled,'' Hamilton admitted of the 25-18 final set.
“We fought really hard,'' Homberger said. “A real scrappy game. There were some slight things we could've done better but we played for each other and gave it our all.''
And perhaps a tradition will sprout. Micunovic will graduate but first may join the girls basketball team for the first time in her career after being heavily recruited. She's the secondtallest volleyball player in the county. Micunovic indicated she'll want a blessing from her Fordham coaches.
As for the volleyball program, Homberger said, “It's definitely something we're really proud of. We're going to take it into next season and keep building on this. But we were sad to end the season today.''