ROXBURY – The Boston Latin Academy girls volleyball team is the top dog in the city once again.
By ripping off 10 different runs of four straight points in a streak-fueled effort, the Dragons overcame a slow start in the Boston City League championship Friday night to rally to a 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-20) win over Madison Park.
None of those runs were bigger than the 11-0 burst Latin Academy used in the second set to prevent a debilitating, 0-2 match deficit. Junior Alana Laforest had her fingerprints all over it and other important stretches throughout, earning MVP honors with 17 kills and two aces.
The Cardinals (12-9) were dethroned as the city champions, while the Dragons (10-8) earned their first league title since 2022.
“(Being champion sounds) excellent,” said Latin Academy head coach Hardy Mondesir. “I believed. In the beginning I believed. It took a while – it was a slow start. But once we started going, the girls started getting into rotation and doing what they need to do offensively and defensively.”
Madison Park was in rhythm early and often in the first set, as Suleiny Rodriguez (two aces), Allison Alvarez Cruz (three aces) and Noelia Guerrero (four aces, five assists) gave the Dragons fits with their serves. Naisha Marte (seven kills) and Jazmine McKinney (seven blocks, four kills) starred at the net, and one too many Latin Academy mistakes gave the Cardinals a 25-23 win for the 1-0 lead.
That momentum carried into the second set, too, as setter Reishmell Tejeda Arias (19 assists) got Beautiful Smith and Vic Coll going to start pulling away with an 18-11 lead. But that’s when a flip switched.
Dragons setter Belina Lee (25 assists) connected with Laforest for three kills. Anay Pakhladxhy and Emma Reilly added kills themselves, and Latin Academy soared to an 11-0 run for a 22-18 lead. And after holding off a Cardinals charge to even the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 win in the second set, the Dragons breathed a new life.
Two big runs jumped them to a 9-3 lead in the third set, and then 15-10. The Cardinals responded to each, only for a pair of Laforest kills to lead a 10-5 close to the frame for a 25-18 win and a 2-1 match lead.
“They believed,” Mondesir said. “(It’s) sticking to the basics. Serving the right spots, executing on offense – which we’ve been trying to get to all year. So I’m just happy that we’re peaking at the right time.”
Laforest was on a mission from there, racking up three more kills in a 7-3 start to the fourth set. Teams traded small runs off each others’ errors to knot the score at 12-12, but Latin Academy heated up again when Lee set up Laforest, Bridget Bruen (twice) and Delina Brea for kills in a 9-3 run. Ruby Gold also had an ace in the stretch, giving the Dragons a 21-15 lead too big for the Cardinals to rally past.
A long list of players made an impact in the turnaround, but the MVP was at the front of each big charge.
“I told her (Laforest) was my go-to from Day 1,” Mondesir said. “I said, ‘If you lock in, you’re unstoppable in the city.’ … The key is, these girls have gone out and played club volleyball. This is what we’re trying to push all the girls to do around the city.”
