FORT PIERCE – Not much separated The Benjamin School and John Carroll Catholic volleyball teams.
MaxPreps ranked John Carroll 122nd in the state, 22 in Class 2A and 10th in the West Palm Beach area.
Benjamin was 126nd in the state, 23rd in 2A and 11th in the West Palm Beach area.
So when the sides met in the district championship game, it was not surprising the match went the distance.
The Benjamin School came through down the stretch of the fifth set and earned a 3-2 victory over the Rams 26-24, 16-25, 25-22, 17-25, 15-12 Thursday afternoon in the 2A-District 11 title match on Howard Avril Court on the John Carroll Catholic campus.
The Buccaneers (11-10) earn a berth in next week’s regional tournament at home as the district champions.
Beach volleyball: District playoff predictions
Benjamin held the edge in strength of schedule
If there was one area where Benjamin had a statistical advantage over the Rams, it was in strength of schedule.
The Buccaneers’ strength of schedule is 17.8, while John Carroll’s is 4.7
“It absolutely helped out,” Benjamin coach Alex Clarke said. “We played some really tough competition. We played three top 10 teams in the state. It definitely prepared us to make a postseason run.”
Thus coming into the district final with a .500 record was not indicative of how the Buccaneers’ regular season played out.
“It helped us learn how to fight, how to win," senior outside hitter CJ Smith said of the rugged slate. "It also helped us learn how to lose. Obviously, you want to win every game, and everyone hates losing. But losing does help build strength in you. It helped us overcome everything.”
Clarke saw her team battle some of the top teams in the state during the season, so she knew what her team was capable of when it came to crunch time.
“Every single time we played a top-ranked opponent, we fought tooth and nail for every single point,” the coach said. “That’s what helped carry us through the end, through that fifth set.”
The fifth set was intense
The fifth and deciding set featured seven ties and three lead changes. Neither side had more than a two-point lead until the end.
John Carroll owned a 10-9 lead on a Benjamin hitting error before the Buccaneers ripped off five straight points.
Kills by senior setter MacKenzie Bryan and Smith along with three Rams hitting errors gave Benjamin a 14-10 lead serving at match point.
John Carroll came back with a kill from junior middle hitter Piper Fucile and an ace from sophomore defensive specialist Mya Rubio.
Smith had two swings in the ensuing, lengthy rally, but as she did earlier in the match 6-foot-3 junior middle hitter Emmie Hill provided the winning point with a kill.
“It’s hard to come into an opposing school and play our game,” Clarke said. “We faced a large crowd, lots of noise, a different gym. I told the girls we have to play hard. We have to play with passion. Keep the energy up. They did that when it came time to do it.”
Clarke said the Buccaneers’s energy waned at times.
“It was up and down, definitely. But I’m definitely proud of them,” the coach said. “When it came down to Set 5, they knew what it was going to take and got the job done.”
Clarke: Get Smith the ball
When it came down to the fifth set, Clarke had one instruction for Bryan, Benjamin’s setter: Get Smith the ball.
“I told my setter at the end of the game to get her the ball,” the coach said. “She wants it. She’s a competitor. She’s a senior. She’s not going to let the ball drop. She’s not going to hit the ball out. She’s going to get it done. She wants it more than anybody. Kudos to her.”
Smith had three of her 13 kills in the fifth set.
“So obviously it was the fifth set, so we don’t have another set after this,” Smith said. “We put in a lot this season. Maybe our record doesn’t show it. We worked hard. We wanted to win. We wanted the championship. Yeah, that’s why I wanted it.”
Earlier in the match, it was Benjamin's middles – Hill and sophomore Lily Claire Smith – who had their way.
Hill matched CJ Smith with 13 kills and had seven blocks. Hill had two blocks to close out the fourth set. Lily Claire Smith contributed six kills and a pair of blocks.
“We did what we asked them to do,” John Carroll coach Dustin Wood on attempting to contain the Buccaneers’ middles. “We took them out with our serving, getting the ball behind the setter. When we didn’t do that, they scored. It was a lack of execution, but they adjusted.”
Benjamin was without sophomore outside hitter Izzy Levi-Minzi.
“We were missing a player today, and one of our other players was a little sick,” CJ Smith said. “So we had to overcome that today too. We had to do that all season. So it wasn’t anything new for us.
“Just coming together and making sure we communicated. With the player we lacked, all of us did 1% more.”
John Carroll answers Benjamin early
The Rams fell behind 18-11 in the first set. John Carroll fought off three set points, two on aces by junior Liv Laughlin before a couple of hitting errors doomed the Rams.
John Carroll used the late momentum in the first set to score the first six points of the second set, the final two on blocks by Fucile and coasted to a win in the second set.
Like the first set, Benjamin appeared to take control of the third set, leading 21-15. Two aces by junior libero Addie Parks and kills by Laughlin and sophomore outside hitter Samantha Kerensky helped pull the Rams even at 21-all before the blocking of Hill provided Benjamin with the win.
John Carroll forced a fifth set by taking control of the fourth set early and never letting up.
Wood shrugged off the strength of schedule differential and pointed to a John Carroll match late in the season. The Rams lost a five-setter to Martin County High on the road, dropping the fifth set 15-13.
“I’m glad we did because the youth showed,” Wood said of the setback. “I didn’t see what I saw a couple of weeks ago. I’m proud of them to come back. The sophomores showed us some things we had to correct. I’m happy with all five sets.”
A number of Rams filled the stat sheet. Fucile had 13 kills and 3 blocks. Laughlin contributed 12 kills, 5 aces and a block. Junior Alex Smith, the team leader in kills, added 13 kills and a pair of aces.. Kerensky notched eight kills. Junior libero Addie Parks served four aces. Senior middle Kayden Beckowitz finished with three kills. Senior setter Lila Theberge finished with a kill, two aces and plenty of assists.
“A point or two,” Wood said of the difference in the match. “Some of it was our youth. We had a couple of sophomores out there who played hard. The experiences were there. I was happy with the way they fought.”
Rams denied first district title since 2015
Looking for their first district title since 2015, the Rams (12-4) actually outscored Benjamin, 108-99, during the match.
Wood expects his team to be included in the regional tournament when the pairings are announced this weekend.
“We’re a good team,” the coach said. “We’ll play any place, anywhere. The unfortunate thing is we’ll be on the road. We had an opportunity to play at home. It is what it is, and we’ll go on the road and play.”
In addition to losing to Martin County, John Carroll’s other two setbacks prior to Thursday were to The Pine School and Legacy High.
Wood has another instructional video in the match against Benjamin to help his team prepare.
The Buccaneers now have won nine straight against John Carroll, seven by 3-0 scores.
John Carroll’s most recent win against Benjamin was Oct. 28, 2010.
“It was a great match,” Wood said. “It was fun to be a part of. Credit to them.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Benjamin volleyball beats John Carroll in five sets for district title
