CAPA Dragon behind Masterman

The CAPA boys’ volleyball program achieved the ultimate level of success with Public League championships in 2001 and 2004.

Two other times, in 2000 and 2003, the squad entered the title contest with an undefeated mark, only to lose 3-1 to Masterman.

Last Thursday, CAPA took the Community College of Philadelphia court looking to win a Public League crown with an undefeated record for the first time in program history. All the 17-0 CAPA Pegasus needed to do was beat the Masterman Blue Dragons.

Anyone want to guess the final score? That’s right: Masterman, 3; CAPA, 1. The curse lives on.

"We are going to have to crack that curse sometime," said senior Marshall Smith, who finished the contest with 11 kills, four aces and seven blocks.

When the players from the High School for the Creative and Performing Arts began the game, they weren’t too intimidated, since they had conquered the Blue Dragons in their regular-season meeting.

"I just tried to think of it as a regular game, but of course there was pressure because it was a championship game," said senior Chris Llewellyn.

Like CAPA, Masterman is considered one of the Public League’s elite volleyball programs with five championship crowns, including four of the last six. CAPA won the other two.

MAYBE IF JUNIOR Chris Kaye hadn’t been sidelined with a broken right thumb, the result would’ve been different. Kaye, one of the team’s top players, suffered the injury at Monday’s practice when he fell backward and his thumb hit the floor. To show he was still with the team, the player jumped in the middle of the pregame huddle and raised his injured thumb – protected by a bright red cast – as a symbol of encouragement.

"I was trying to get the team hyped," said Kaye, whose cast was covered with get-well messages. "All my teammates were sad about me not being there. I was hoping they could get it done without me."

Smith said Kaye took it particularly hard when Masterman raised the championship trophy at center court. "I thought about Chris after the game when I saw him tearing up," the player said.

Victory was certainly within reach for the Pegasus. Leading 21-19, the defending champ was four points away from taking the first game, but Masterman rallied with three straight points to take the 22-21 lead. CAPA ended up losing 23-25.

"We were definitely in position to win that one," said CAPA coach Rick Shields. After Masterman took the second game 25-22, the Pegasus faced the near-insurmountable task of winning the final three games in the best-of-five contest. Shields told his team to focus on the third game.

"We just have to play one point and one game at a time," the coach said. It worked, at least for that third match, which CAPA won 25-21. With the game tied 20-20, the Pegasus scored four straight points to take the lead for good.

But Masterman led the fourth and final game by as many as six points and eventually won it 25-21.

Llewellyn credited Masterman for its preparation.

"No matter what we did, they had an answer for," the player said after hugging a few of his schoolmates.

As much as Llewellyn would have loved his team to be the first CAPA athletic squad to win back-to-back Public League championships, the senior will leave the school proud of his accomplishments.

"It was a good season. I would’ve liked to get another [championship]," he said, but added, "I know we did our best." Meanwhile, Masterman will represent Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association District XII in the PIAA state tournament taking place tomorrow and Saturday at Penn State University.

The Pegasus will contend for a championship next season with 13 returning players, including starters Dean Dimitruk, a sophomore; Nelson Miranda, a junior; and a healthy Kaye. Junior Marc Da Silva, who started in place of Kaye in the playoffs, also will be back. The athletes have 10 months to figure out how to break the curse.

"I hope we see Masterman again in next year’s championship game so we can show them what we’re made of," Kaye said. "I’ll lead the team myself if that’s what it takes."