“We can do this! Five more points!”  I remember Ali was serving and I was telling her she can finish this for us and she almost did!  She got us to 14-5. With one final serve by St. Mark’s and a spike by Eden, we had done it! After all the screaming, cheering, and playing, The Benjamin Middle School volleyball team was the 2017 Palm Beach Independent School Athletic Conference champion.  “They finally got the league title they deserved” said TBS Head Coach Jaclyn Filia.  Unlike the past seven years, when the Bucs finished no better than second place to St. Mark’s five times, this year the team came into the final match with more spirit and will to win than ever before. For the first time in seven years, St. Mark’s did not take home the PBISAA crown as Benjamin beat the Lions 2-1, marking the first time since 2010 that the Bucs won the championship.

Eighth grader Eden Jozsa scored the final point which sealed the victory for the team. “Winning the final point was a really exciting feeling,” said Josza. “It was really fun being with my team on the court when we won the final game.”

Making the win even sweeter was beating St. Mark’s as their team has had a death grip on the league crown for so long. “It felt really great and amazing to finally beat St. Mark’s and to beat their streak of winning, and it was even better because half of their team is on my travel team,” said eighth grader Ali Brown.

The entire game was a nerve-wracking experience as the score kept going back and forth with numerous lead changes. Even the parents were were filled with excitement throughout the whole game. The chanting and cheering  that erupted from the stands just helped encourage the Bucs and spurred them to victory.

“I think that the parents were really encouraging when they would cheer for us,” said Brown. “I think they cheered louder than the team did!”

The coaches, Filia and Ms. Kelly Murray, couldn’t have been happier, and were impressed with the way the way the girls played.

“I felt so proud of the girls for all their hard work and perseverance,” said Filia, who has coached the middle school team for the past four years. “It would have been really easy to skate through the final game and not give St. Mark’s a fight. But they didn’t let the fact that they were ranked #1 or “supposed to win” get in their way. The girls proved they were the better team by working together and not getting down on each other during each of the three games in that match,” she said.

However, the team had to fight through some lapses during the season, and there were moments that were rougher than others. “I think that our worst games were against Franklin [Academy] because one of them was our first game, and we weren’t that good, and we didn’t work as a team,” said eighth grader Alexa Cousin.

However, the season ended on the sweetest of notes. “Our best game was by far was the final game against St. Mark’s because the whole team worked together and never gave up,” said eighth grader Emma Mayberry. Through weeks of learning, practicing, cheering, and playing, the team learned to work as one. They won together, lost together, but best of all, they became champions together.