By Larry Moko
A pair of St. Thomas More Knights received Most Valuable Player honours at the 2025 Hamilton high school girls' all-star volleyball games Tuesday.
In the annual junior contest between Catholic and Public squads, Victoria Sinclair of More was named her team's MVP. And in the senior half of the doubleheader, More's Tori D'Angela earned similar recognition.
Unfortunately for the Catholics, they lost both matches -- 3-2 in junior and 3-1 in senior.
The all-star format between the two boards began 15 years ago, launched by Hamilton businessman and volleyball coach Mark Wu.
D'Angela's accomplishment at the senior level was significant, too, because she's only in Grade 9.
"Absolutely," said Catholic senior team coach Albie O'Hanian. "Tori played really well. And so did her setter, Presley Fortune (also from More). So they had a good combination going right from the start.
"Tori relaxed and played great volleyball."
D'Angela, along with Breya Peters of the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic league champion Bishop Tonnos Titans, were the only Grade 9 players in the Catholic lineup.
"It was a good experience playing in this," left-side D'Angela said. "It was fun. Nice having all three of us (More representatives D'Angela, Fortune and Juliana Boldin) in the front row together."
A Mountain Volleyball Club member, D'Angela said the showcase event was also interesting because she recognized fellow rep players on the other side of the net.
Catholic came back to take the final set, 25-18, after dropping the first three, 25-17, 27-25, and 25-18.
"It's hard playing with new people," D'Angela said. "But they (Public) played as if they've been together for a long time. They put it together well."
Veteran local club coach O'Hanian -- he once guided his team to a national U18 title -- said Public deserves credit for the victory.
"They served tough right off the bat and their serve receive was good," he said. "They got us out of our system. Once you're out of system it's tough. For sure, we had trouble stopping their left side (MVP Layla Sevor of Westmount)."
Other Catholic senior selects included Chloe Lessard of ACMT, Bishop Ryan's Kayleigh Nichols, Madeline DiBacco and Marissa Letnik, Tonnos's Alyssa Cerovac and Estelle Buist, Oharah Ablen of Cathedral, Sydney Bouchard of St. Jean de Brébeuf, St. John Henry Newman's Kalina Mitreski and Rowan Smith, plus Julia Don of St. Mary.
In the junior game, it went down to a fifth-set tie-breaker before Public prevailed, 16-14.
"It's high intensity and fun for all of us," said Sinclair, a setter for the league-champion Knights.
"(Public) was really good. They were bringing it. They got passes up and balls down."
Her junior coach at More this season, Dante Van Herzele, said the Grade 10 student was key to helping More upset the previously undefeated St. John Henry Newman Cardinals for the league title.
"Victoria had a fantastic season," he said. "We were a little Grade-9-heavy again this year and she was a strong leader for us.
"She was dedicated, motivated and showed a lot of enthusiasm. Any time we were down she found a way to pick us up. She was the boost we needed."
Van Herzele also commented on Sinclair's excellent technique: "She has such a clean release."
Other Catholic junior players were: Emily Kaczmarski (ACMT); Evelyn Tedesco, Lily Hagar and Natalea Maida (Bishop Ryan); Ella Filice and Liliana Coccaro (Tonnos); Ciana Shea (Cathedral); Angel Lara (Brebeuf); Olivia Grguric and Siobhan Bartley (Newman); Ava Elms (St. Mary); Danica Morris, Gabriella Mazzuca and Maeve Devlin (More).
Overall, the Public juniors won 25-17, 15-25, 15-25, 25-18, 16-14.
The MVP for Public was Ancaster's Abbey Fraser.
"There's such a large following for volleyball in Hamilton," Catholic junior co-coach Jacob Stampone said. "It's great exposure for the girls. A lot of them from the Catholic and Public boards play together in club so they're able to play their friends which is really good."
Photos by R.F. (Bob) Butrym, RFB Sport Photography
More photos on Athletics Facebook page (Junior) (Senior)
