The Benjamin Middle School volleyball team spiked their way to the finals this year, but were not able to spoil St. Mark’s undefeated season. Instead, the Bucs ended up going home with the Palm Beach Independent School Association (PBISA) runner-up trophy, a result which didn’t sit well with some of the players.

“I thought that we should have won because our team was much better this year than last year, and we were equally matched with St. Mark’s,” said eighth grader Lauren Papa. “We just never played that great when we played them.”

However, some of Pap’s teammates tried to have a more positive outlook. “I thought we did very well and we did the best that we could,” said seventh grader Ali Brown. The Bucs played eight regular season games, winning six and losing two, which earned them the second seed in the playoffs.  In semifinals, the Bucs beat The King’s Academy 2-0 in an exciting match that went down to the wire in both sets. 

“I was very surprised because I didn’t know what happened at the exact moment until the ref said, ‘You won,’” said seventh grader Nicole Kleinfeld. “I wasn’t looking at the scoreboard, [so] I just got really happy.”

The team also opened the season against King’s at the Upper School, which was exciting for the Bucs because there was a huge crowd of parents, students, and faculty. Benjamin won in three sets, and it was one of the more memorable matches of the season.  “They were a tough team, and we played really hard against them,” said Kleinfeld. “It got us on our ‘A’ game, [so] I think that was probably our best game.”

Even though the team came up just short, the future looks bright as the team will only lose three eighth graders from this year’s squad, and there are some strong up-and-coming sixth-graders. “I think that there are so many seventh graders, and [they] are all so good,” said Papa. “Once [they] go up [against St. Mark’s] next year, it’s gonna be easy to beat them because [the sixth graders] are great, too.”

And while the girls had a great time with one another, the coaches also enjoyed the season. “This was one of the most fun teams I have ever gotten to coach,” said Head Coach Jaclyn Filia, who was assisted in her duties by Coach Kelly Murray. “They are talented and focused on their sport as most of them play travel and do regular volleyball workouts outside of school.  But they are also just enthusiastic about being together and understand that ultimately, it is just a game. As much as I said all the cheers drove me nuts, it was actually great to hear them support each other and enjoy the experience of the season as much as I did.”

Hopefully Coach Filia will hear even more cheers next year as the girls set their sights on dethroning St. Mark’s, and bringing a championship to Benjamin.