The 2024-2025 St. Thomas-St. John Interscholastic Athletic Association (IAA) volleyball league served up three exciting matches on Saturday at Antilles School’s Mark C. Marin Center.
Four of the six teams in the varsity male division were in action on Saturday. The experienced All Saints Cathedral School (ASCS) Vikings took on a young Charlotte Amalie High School (CAHS) team as the Vikings have five returning starters from last year’s team. The Chicken Hawks almost started the season with an upset as CAHS won the first two sets, 25-23 and 25-21. The CAHS coach changed the lineup to start the third set, opening the door for the Vikings. ASCS started to find their way in the third, winning the set 24-13. This match was far from over, as both teams came out strong in the fourth. CAHS nursed a 23-21 lead late in the frame. However, ASCS escaped the set with a 25-23 win. The Vikings completed the comeback with a 15-11 fifth-set win.
The second male match featured the four-time defending champions, the Antilles Hurricanes. Their roster features two players who represented the United States Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Zonal Volleyball Championships this past summer in Jamaica. The team took third place. The Hurricanes took on a young but talented Gifft Hill team with a number of returning starters. The Hurricanes proved to be too much for the Barracudas of Gifft Hill, winning the match 25-7, 25-9, 23-25, 25-12. Ivanna Eudora Kean High School and the Virgin Islands Montessori School and Peter Gruber International Academy (VIMSPGIA) are the other two teams in the male division.
The varsity female division has seven teams vying to dethrone the 2023 champions, the Lady Volts of VIMSPGIA. The other teams in this division are ASCS, Antilles School, CAHS, the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School, Gifft Hill, and Sts. Peter & Paul School. On Saturday, CAHS took on the Ladies of ASCS. The Lady Hawks won the match in straight sets (25-11; 25-8; 25-11).
The league has two other divisions. Antilles, CAHS, and VIMSPGIA will field teams in the Junior Varsity Girls Division. Gifft Hill School, Julius Sprauve School, VIMSPGIA, Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School, Calvary Christian Academy, and Sts. Peter & Paul School will participate in the Junior Varsity B Girls Division. Antilles School has also entered two teams in this division.
There is one league game on Monday at the Digna Wheatley Gymnasium on the Ivanna Eudora Kean High School campus. The Ivanna Eudora Kean Lady Rays will play host to the Jaguars of Sts. Peter & Paul at 4:30 p.m..
