Title run worth wait

It took an extra day, there was a different opponent, and the format changed, but Latin Academy finally won the Boston City League volleyball championship, 2-0, over Boston English yesterday at Madison Park.

The match was delayed a day and the opponent changed when Brighton was disqualified for using a player in the semifinals that had not attended school that day. The disqualification put English (14-3) in the final, but the Bulldogs could not arrange for transportation on such short notice, and the match was moved to yesterday afternoon.

"We had a tough game Monday against O'Bryant," said Latin Academy coach Robert Huie, whose team improved to 15-3. "We were more unprepared for that game [than this one] because we thought that game was going to be on Tuesday."

The Dragons won a seesaw first game, 30-21. Neither team held a lead of more than 3 points before the Dragons ran off 5 straight points to go up, 21-15. They never trailed again.

The Dragons took that momentum into the second game and won handily, 30-9. Latin Academy ran off 11 straight points to go up, 21-5, and put the game out of reach.

The match was changed to a best of three by the MIAA when the date of the final was changed. The final was originally a best of five.

The Dragons were led by senior captain Christina Lei, who had 10 kills, and Barbara Yau, who added 13 assists and 10 service aces.

"The key for us is teamwork," said Huie. "The leadership on this team comes from everyone on this team understanding their roles and knowing how to win."

The win was the Dragons' first since 2000 in the city championship and set them up for a run in the Division 1 South sectional tournament. After a first-round bye, the Dragons will host the winner of the Falmouth-Marshfield game Tuesday at 7 p.m.

"The state tournament is a lot tougher than the city tournament," said Huie. "These teams are all new to us, and our girls tend to be smaller. When we play games out of the city, it's a big challenge."