Displaying the trophies won during Saturday’s athletics competition against Notre Dame Seminary are, from left, Jorge Garza, tennis; Grayson Foley, basketball; Carter Domingue, volleyball; Joey Piccini, Spikeball; and Adolfo Sanchez-Duran, soccer.
Seminarians from Saint Joseph Seminary College traveled across Lake Pontchartrain Saturday, April 22, for a day of camaraderie and friendly competition with the seminarians from Notre Dame Seminary. When the day ended, Saint Ben’s had secured all five trophies up for grabs.
Competition started Saturday morning at Rummel High School with Spikeball and soccer then moved to Notre Dame, where tennis, basketball, and volleyball games and matches were played. Previously, seminarians competed in soccer, volleyball and basketball in the spring; Spikeball and tennis are new to the lineup this year.
Seminarians from Saint Joseph and Notre Dame compete in the annual Bonfire football game every November on the Saint Joseph Seminary campus. The Ravens won the game in the fall, and Saturday’s victories completed a clean sweep for the 2022-23 academic year.
While several seminarians competed in more than one sport Saturday, freshman Joey Piccini (Mobile) competed – and won – in all five events.
“I was definitely winded by the end of the day,” he said. “I got back (to SJSC) at 6 p.m. and went straight to bed and didn’t get up until 8:30 in the morning Sunday.
“The hardest stretch was going from soccer to basketball and tennis because they were all in the sun. Basketball and tennis were going on at the same time, which made it even more tiring.”
Piccini said his basketball teammates (Carter Domingue, Ignacio Gamundi, and Michael Ferdinand) gave him a break once they made it to the 3-on-3 championship game and didn’t sub him in, so he had a little more rest for his tennis match.
Though the day was tiring, Piccini said it was a lot of fun.
“I got to spend the whole day with my friends playing sports, which is what I love to do,” he said. "I can’t wait for next year!”
Saturday Recap
The winner of the soccer match receives the coveted Causeway Cup trophy. President-Rector Fr. Gregory Boquet, O.S.B., and Dean of Students Fr. Jerome Aubert, O.S.B., were a part of the morning’s enthusiastic crowd that cheered the Ravens on to a 3-1 victory and kept the trophy at Saint Ben’s for another year. Gabe Dowden (Lafayette), Simon Atkinson (Mobile), and Thomas Benson (Mobile) scored for Saint Ben’s. Adolfo Sanchez-Duran (Brownsville) coached the team.
Spikeball pitted two Saint Ben’s teams in the championship round. The two-person team of Carter Domingue (Lafayette) and Joey Piccini (Mobile) beat Zach Sullivan (Atlanta) and Luke Vina (Fort Worth). Domingue and Piccini won their first match, 15-8, 15-9, while Sullivan and Vina won their first match 15-7, 15-8. Once both teams made the championship round they chose to play one game to 21 rather than best 2-of-3 sets, and Domingue and Piccini won, 21-13. Piccini coached the Spikeball team.
The Ravens advanced out of both brackets in the 3-on-3 basketball competition as well. The winning Saint Ben’s team included Carter Domingue (Lafayette), Ignacio Gamundi (Saint Joseph Abbey), Michael Ferdinand (Pensacola), and Joey Piccini (Mobile), with a final score of 15-11. (Ignacio Gamundi hit the winning shot.) The runner-up team included Grayson Foley (Jackson), Jacob Zimmerer (Fort Worth), Jorel de Guzman (St. Petersburg), and Chris Lee (Lafayette). Ethan Green (Mobile) coached the basketball teams.
The Saint Ben’s volleyball team, coached by Carter Domingue (Lafayette), swept the first two sets in a best-of-three matchup with Notre Dame to capture the Bayou Ball Classic trophy. This trophy had apparently gone missing in NOLA, but it was located Saturday and returned to its rightful place on the Northshore.
The Ravens won three of five matches in the tennis tournament to secure the team title. The score was 2-2 going into the final doubles match, but the team of Joey Piccini (Mobile) and Xavier Polisetty (Fort Worth) won comfortably, 8-4, to give Saint Ben’s the team title. The Ravens split with Notre Dame in singles – Jorge Garza (Brownsville) won his match, 8-2, while Nathan Lirrette (Shreveport) lost his singles match, 0-8. In doubles, the team of Robert Weisberg (Fort Worth) and Eric Hernandez (Lafayette) won 8-2 while the team of Chris Collins (Biloxi) and Zach Sullivan (Atlanta) lost their match, 5-8, to set up the final doubles match for the team victory. Garza coached the tennis team.