Four real! Cardinal Newman volleyball wins another state championship
The Cardinal Newman volleyball team found itself in a rare position in Tuesday’s state championship match against Palmetto Christian.
The Cardinals dropped the second set to PCA but bounced back to win the final two sets and beat the Eagles 3-1 (25-16, 21-25, 25-18, 25-14) to win the SC Independent School Association Class 4A title in front of a standing-room only crowd at Pinewood Prep.
“We talked about staying together no matter what,” CN coach Cynthia Dimapan said. “We practiced different scenarios in being all the way down or all the way up and had to stay mentally strong. .. We have to be ready for every situation.”
It is Cardinal Newman’s fourth straight state championship and fifth in the last six seasons.
Cardinal Newman has been SCISA’s most dominant program and one of the best in the state, public or private. The Cardinals finished with a 45-9 record, two off its school-record of 47 wins set in 2022.
Cardinal Newman hasn’t lost a match to a SCISA opponent since losing to Porter-Gaud in the 2021 state championship. That also was the last time the Cards dropped a set against an SCISA team.
After winning the opening set, 25-16, Palmetto Christian took the second set, 25-21 to get the Cardinals’ attention. It was the first set it lost since dropping one against St. Joseph’s in the 3-1 win on Oct. 16.
“My message was that we were not done until the end of the match. We couldn’t take any team lightly and work our butts off to beat them,” Dimapan said.
Dimapan said there was no panic amongst the team, but the Cards started the third set slowly as PCA jumped out to a 10-6 lead. The Cardinals fought back and Zailey Vaval gave them a 15-14 lead. Cardinal Newman finished the set on a 13-5 run to win it 25-18.
“We saw them come out, and they really wanted to beat us so that made us want to win even more,” said Cardinal Newman’s McKenna Miller, who was a big factor for the Cards’ offense in the first two sets.
The championship is especially sweet for Miller, who missed most of last season with an injury but came back and provided leadership and had a big game in the championship. Miller is one of six seniors on the team, including Leila Hargrove, who was on the squad for all four championship teams and the team’s leader in kills and blocks.
The Cards were never challenged in the final set. Lauren Rivers’ ace put them up 17-9 and a double block sealed the match and fourth straight state championship.
Rivers led the team with 37 assists. Miller led the team with 17 kills. Khylie Remmenga added 14 and Hargrove 10. Remmenga tied Vaval for the team with five blocks.
This story was originally published October 28, 2025 at 9:51 PM.
