Heart Heroes Volleyball Tournament Gets Hearts Pumping
Posted on 02/03/2022
Hearts were pounding on the court and in the stands as students and teachers competed in the Heart Heroes Volleyball Tournament at St. Thomas Aquinas High School on Wednesday, February 2. It is the fourteenth year that STA has held an event for the American Heart Association and this year’s event marks a milestone of over $50,000 raised in total.

The STA Heart Heroes Volleyball Tournament featured four faculty/staff teams competing against 10 student teams. Everyone played to win, and the gym was bursting with excitement as students, parents, and faculty cheered for their favorite teams.

The final round paired the best two teams, Team #3 captained by Etinosa Igiebor ’22 and Team #8 captained by Esperanza Mojica ’22. After a hard-fought game, Team #3 captured the win!

Adding to the fun was a second award–the Team Spirit Award–that was voted on by spectators. After the votes were tallied, it was Team #11, captained by Ms. Penny, that won the Team Spirit Award! The members of this creative and spirited team were Ms. Penny, Mr. Dama, Mr. McCarthy, Ms. Byrne, Ms. DiBetta, Mr. Vigilante, Mr. Cullinan, and Mrs. Gossett.

And in tribute to this event’s forerunner, Hoops for Heart, students and faculty members were invited to take a half-court shot. Thirty people donated in exchange for the opportunity with two of them making the long shot: Mr. Duncan Merriman-Mendez and Prince Swain ‘22.

More important than the final scores were, of course, the contributions that STA was able to make to the American Heart Association. The event raised over $4,000 to support research and treatment to combat heart disease.

Behind the scenes of the successful event was a dedicated team of students, chaired by Genna Arduini ’22, which included Ella Young ’22, Tyler Kadi ’22, Jacob Pil ’22, Morgan Brennan ’22, Ava Cruz ’22, Grace Neno ’22, Donato Farid ’23, Isabella Danner ’23, Sarah Asdhir ’23, Nicholas Basilico ’24, and Natalie Neno ’24. Sister Cynthia Marie and Mr. Kevin McCarthy led the efforts and worked with the students to ensure that the volleyball tournament was a great success.    

The Heart Heroes Volleyball Tournament was an invigorating event and important fundraiser for such an important cause. The committee members who planned the event would like to thank the faculty, staff, parents, and students who played and worked at the event as well as all those who donated to and attended the fundraiser.


Heart Heroes Volleyball Tournament