Silver Trail coach Chris Raden's eyes welled up following the postgame celebration after the Mustangs beat Coral Springs for the Broward County Middle School girls' volleyball championship May 23.
"It doesn't get any better than this," said Raden, after his team's emotional 14-21, 21-18, 21-17 victory over the previously undefeated Stallions at Cypress Bay High School. "I am at a loss for words. It's just a great feeling."
Silver Trail (11-1), which also ended a three-year, 34-game unbeaten streak by two-time defending county champion Falcon Cove (10-1) in the semifinals 10-21, 20-15, 20-16, won its first girls' volleyball county title. It was the first time Silver Trail has defeated Falcon Cove in volleyball in 12 years. The boys completed the sweep with a victory over Forest Glen Middle.
Raden, who is in his third year with the Mustangs, said the team's previous best finish was in the county quarterfinals. Silver Trail lost to Falcon Cove 21-3, 21-10 in the third game of the season and needed a play-in game against Pembroke Pines Charter Middle to reach the playoffs.
"Falcon Cove absolutely destroyed us earlier in the season," Raden said. "I told them they had every right to be here as much as the other three teams. Even after we lost the first game in the semifinals, I felt that was the best game we had ever played. I just kept telling them as long as they serve well and talk to one another, everything else would fall into place.
"Winning this shows they can do anything they set their mind to," Raden added.
Silver Trail's Sineidy Cruz was named the tournament MVP.
Raden said the team was led by Cruz, Ashley Navarrette and Jacylin Pictett throughout the season.
Falcon Cove coach Evie Hoopes said her team hadn't even lost a game in the past three years until it dropped the final two games of the match.
"This was the first game we lost in a long time," said Hoopes, whose team last lost in the 2001-02 season and won the volleyball title in three of the past four years. "We had a tough serving day, and that is what it came down to."
Coral Springs Middle School coach Trudy Cole, whose team (11-1) defeated Sunrise in the other semifinal, said her team gave it all they had. "They wanted it," said Cole, whose Stallions reached the finals the past three years only to come up short. The previous two losses in the county finals came against Falcon Cove. "It just didn't go our way this time."
Rosters
Silver Trail: Amanda Barrios, Ryan Carroll, Danielle Coloson, Beverly Corry, Sineidy Cruz, Gabrielle Ellis, Lydia Mansfield, Melissa Miller, Ashley Navarrette, Jacylin Pictett, Michele Stocker, Nicole Strass, Elizabeth Toaer, Emily Voskuhl, coaches Chris Raden and Olivia Davis.
Coral Springs: Victoria Bender, Allison Davis, Taylor Dougherty, Sarah Piechocki, Alyssa Pipitone, Sonya Salimy, Meaghan Smith, Stephanie Smith, Sarah Stauffer, Amy Davis, Megan Sweeney, Heather Loveridge, Kealia Reynolds, Melissa Targonski, Amanda Berins, coaches Trudy Cole and Kim Norton.
By Gary Curreri, Special Correspondent, Sun-Sentinel |
