And then there was one.
Cardinal Newman beach volleyball was one of five Palm Beach County teams that advanced to the regional semifinals this season, but the Crusaders were the only ones to emerge victorious.
Wellington, Jupiter, Dwyer, and Boca Raton all fell last week, but Newman managed to outplay True North Classical in a gritty five-set upset that featured sophomore pair Caroline Mischke and Ava Hinds defeating an upperclassman duo from the Titans in the fifth set decider.
“I mean, I think it’s awesome because our indoor season didn’t go as planned and we stopped short of our goals,” Cardinal Newman head coach Joy VanDyke said. “So to get out there and go this far in beach volleyball is really, I think, a testament to our hard work and what we want to reach.”
Three seasons ago, Boston College commit Ava Castro was one of the players that pushed for Cardinal Newman to implement a beach volleyball program, jokingly saying she harassed the athletics department until the Crusaders players got their wish.
And while it didn’t start out how they imagined ― an 0-8 season marked by coach VanDyke’s bout against breast cancer ― the girls quickly rebounded to post a 6-7 year before surging into a 14-1 finish and top-50 state ranking this year.
“Starting this program three years ago, I feel like it’s just like exploded since then,” Castro said. “Like we all went into this beach season saying, ‘well, this is the last time we’re ever going to have an opportunity to like do something special at this school. This is our last opportunity to do something, make it happen, put our name on the wall, a banner.'”
The season started with a five-set defeat at the hands of King’s Academy. With no love lost between the Lions and Crusaders, it was Newman that then embarked on a 14-match win streak, including a much-sought-after district title against the same Lions in April.
“I think that game was probably one of the most important games for everybody on the team actually,” Dayana Acevedo said. “We were just going for blood that game.”
“I played with Elioise [Libra], and we’re so on fire right now, I don’t think like it wasn’t even like an option to lose for us,” Acevedo continued. “We were so confident going into that, so it felt really good to be able to beat them.”
Among the successes for Cardinal Newman has been an undefeated record for Providence commit Lyla Buser.
The Crusaders will hope that kind of production from their brightest stars continues when they travel down to Miami on Tuesday, May 5, to take on top-seeded Westminster Christian at 4 p.m. for their first regional final in program history.
Alex Peterman is a high school sports reporter for The Palm Beach Post. He can be reached at apeterman@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Cardinal Newman beach volleyball last Palm Beach squad left standing
Reporting by Alexander Peterman, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
