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On Saturday, November 16th, the DPL crowned 5 new champions in Volleyball from 5 different schools. Congratulations to the champions and the runners-up on fine seasons. Volleyball is a sport on the rise in the DPL, with the standard on play being elevated year after year. Ninety-three
(93) teams began the season searching for the gold. Here's a re-cap of
the finals:
Note: click on images to enlarge the size for
viewing. |
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Varsity
Division 1:
The St Thomas Wildcats pulled off an amazing run through the tourney. Entering as the #6 seed, STA was given little chance by many around the league. However, the Wildcats began dispatching of the # 3 seeded St Bernard Bruins 15-7, 16-14 in the quarters to avenge last season's loss in the finals. They proceeded to the semi's and continued their run by whipping # 2 seed POP 15-4, 15-7. Even more convincing was the Wildcats advancing on the Bruins
and stars home- courts. As they reached the finals, STA once again found itself in the underdog role against the powerful #1 ranked St Mark Lions. The Wildcats jumped to an amazing 13-0 start in game one and never looked back winning 15-4, 15-1. STA played near flawless volleyball while the Lions were not up to their usual stellar standards. For the
Wildcats, it was their 2nd consecutive trip to the finals, and for the Lions, it was their 4th trip in 5 years to the Championship game. |
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Varsity Division 2:
The D2 final proved to be the most exciting of the day at Ursuline. Previously in the season, CKS had dealt St Patrick its only loss in an early morning game at St Pat's. It looked as if the afternoon start would be better for the Panthers as they got out of the gate early and defeated CKS 15-6 in game 1. However, the Crusaders rebounded quickly to snare game 2 by a score of 15-6 and take a lead of 11-0 in game 3. St Pat's had overcome a 9-0 deficit to undefeated St Elizabeth in the semi's, so comebacks were nothing new...but the Crusaders were too much on this day, hanging on for an exciting 15-9 win for the match. For CKS, the championship punctuated a dramatic climb for a program that had just started re-emphasizing the sport last year at their school. |
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Co-Ed / Boys Division:
St Mary-Carmel was making its 5th consecutive appearance in the finals of this division, last winning in 1999. Good
Shepherd was hoping to gain back the early season momentum that had it in first place most of the season. The two teams had split their meetings during the season, so the
Championship would truly determine the kings/queens of the division. Any drama to be found was quickly lost when the Eagles pounced to an early 10-0 lead in game 1 and then coasted to a 15-4, 15-7 victory. The Eagles were solid in every aspect of the game while the Cardinals just couldn't seem to put a run together. |
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6th Grade:
The St Mark Lions repeated as Co-Champs, having done the same as 5th graders a year prior. The year 2002 saw the Lions have to work much harder however to achieve the feat. Both the St Mark-Green and Gold teams were taken to 3 games in their semi-final contests, but survived to reach the finals. The Green team lost game one to POP, but bounce back convincingly to take games 2 and 3. Meanwhile, later in the same day, St Mark-Gold won a thriller over St Bernard, taking game 3 by a score of 17-15 to advance. The 6th grade trophy has now rotated back and forth between St Mark and POP for the last 5 years. |
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5th Grade:
POP became the 3rd different winner of this division since its' inception in 2000. POP-Blue and POP-White duplicated the St Mark 6th grade feat to both reach the finals and share a co-championship. The POP-Blue team finished the year with an amazing 16-0 record while the POP-White squad pulled off three consecutive upsets (based on seeding) to reach the championship with a 13-4 record. Both teams should be commended on fine seasons. It looks like the 6th grade trophy could continue its to-fro pattern in 2003 by returning to POP. |
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A big thank-you to all spectators who attended the finals. Your support of your teams and sportsmanship are to be commended. The DPL thanks you for your fine support. |
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