This season’s finest: Volleyball teams Serve for the Cure for breast cancer
By Jay Edwards
Correspondent
Charlotte Latin’s “Serve for the Cure” Volleyball Tournament: Suzie Pignetti was diagnosed with breast cancer in March of 1997, and had a mastectomy surgery and rigorous, chemotherapy regimen.
Today, Pignetti, 72, is a breast cancer survivor of more than 20 years.
The disease changed her life and inspired her to help other survivors, and to give back in the constant search for the cure to breast cancer.
While Pignetti was a legendary volleyball coach at Charlotte Latin, Charlotte Country Day and Butler on the court – amassing 745 career wins, including 29 conference championships and 15 state championships (including nine, state championships in a row at Charlotte Latin 2004-2012) in her 35-year tenure – she’s even more proud of the opportunities volleyball has provided her off the court.
On Sept. 23, 20 volleyball teams from 12 schools will compete in the 16th Annual Serve for the Cure Volleyball Tournament at Charlotte Latin.
To date, the tournament has raised $433,350 for cancer research, including $39,000 last year during the one-day event.
The tournament “started out from the passion I had to see if we could use our sport (volleyball) to help raise money for awareness and money to help find a cure for breast cancer,” said Pignetti. “I remember the first year (2002) we had six schools and raised $5,000 and I thought that was going to be hard to top.
“But Serve for the Cure has grown every year and it just seems to keep getting better and better. It’s not just a Charlotte Latin event anymore, it’s really a (greater) Charlotte community event now.”
The 12 teams participating include traditional, Charlotte-area powers such as Ardrey Kell, Charlotte Christian, Charlotte Country Day, Community School of Davidson, Covenant Day, Gaston Day, Providence Day, Providence and Weddington.
The field also includes Nation Ford (S.C.), and for the first time, Cape Fear Academy, now coached by former Charlotte Latin volleyball coach Ellen Kazura.
Kazura was not only mentored as a volleyball coach by Pignetti, but also inspired to be a part of this tournament now and in the past by her good friend.
“Anybody who has been a part of the Charlotte Latin volleyball program knows about the Serve for the Cure, and that it’s a big deal for the whole entire program, from middle school to varsity,” said Kazura, Charlotte Latin head volleyball coach for two years (2014, 2015), after six years as an assistant to Pignetti and one year under Zoe Bell
The 12 schools that will play in the Serve for the Cure event will be competing to see who can raise the most money, something all the girls who play take pride in, according to Kazura.
Charlotte Latin, now coached by Gloria Cash, usually wins the top prize for money raised, but Weddington has been close recently and Coach Zoe Bell and her Ardrey Kell team are also always a factor.
The event also benefits from sponsors such as Carolina Juniors Volleyball and the Sports’ Connection to more than 60 other sponsors that support the tournament with money, goods and services, according to Kazura.
The money raised now goes to two beneficiaries, with half going to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, and half going to the Teresa Flippo-Morton, MD, Surgical Oncology Fund.
Flippo-Morton was one of the surgeons who operated on Pignetti, and one of the top doctors in Charlotte, treating an estimated 2,300 women with cancer, according to Pignetti. Flippo-Morton, who had pancreatic cancer, died June 7, 2015.
“I think the girls really get it,” Pignetti said. “They want to give back to something bigger than themselves, something bigger than volleyball.”
Kazura hopes to start a similar event in Wilmington soon. “The money we raise is great. But to have 20 different teams from 12 schools working hard and competing for this cause makes us all proud. For the (Charlotte) volleyball community to get together each year and do something like this is rare.”
By Jay Edwards
Correspondent
Charlotte Latin’s “Serve for the Cure” Volleyball Tournament: Suzie Pignetti was diagnosed with breast cancer in March of 1997, and had a mastectomy surgery and rigorous, chemotherapy regimen.
Today, Pignetti, 72, is a breast cancer survivor of more than 20 years.
The disease changed her life and inspired her to help other survivors, and to give back in the constant search for the cure to breast cancer.
While Pignetti was a legendary volleyball coach at Charlotte Latin, Charlotte Country Day and Butler on the court – amassing 745 career wins, including 29 conference championships and 15 state championships (including nine, state championships in a row at Charlotte Latin 2004-2012) in her 35-year tenure – she’s even more proud of the opportunities volleyball has provided her off the court.
On Sept. 23, 20 volleyball teams from 12 schools will compete in the 16th Annual Serve for the Cure Volleyball Tournament at Charlotte Latin.
To date, the tournament has raised $433,350 for cancer research, including $39,000 last year during the one-day event.
The tournament “started out from the passion I had to see if we could use our sport (volleyball) to help raise money for awareness and money to help find a cure for breast cancer,” said Pignetti. “I remember the first year (2002) we had six schools and raised $5,000 and I thought that was going to be hard to top.
“But Serve for the Cure has grown every year and it just seems to keep getting better and better. It’s not just a Charlotte Latin event anymore, it’s really a (greater) Charlotte community event now.”
The 12 teams participating include traditional, Charlotte-area powers such as Ardrey Kell, Charlotte Christian, Charlotte Country Day, Community School of Davidson, Covenant Day, Gaston Day, Providence Day, Providence and Weddington.
The field also includes Nation Ford (S.C.), and for the first time, Cape Fear Academy, now coached by former Charlotte Latin volleyball coach Ellen Kazura.
Kazura was not only mentored as a volleyball coach by Pignetti, but also inspired to be a part of this tournament now and in the past by her good friend.
“Anybody who has been a part of the Charlotte Latin volleyball program knows about the Serve for the Cure, and that it’s a big deal for the whole entire program, from middle school to varsity,” said Kazura, Charlotte Latin head volleyball coach for two years (2014, 2015), after six years as an assistant to Pignetti and one year under Zoe Bell
The 12 schools that will play in the Serve for the Cure event will be competing to see who can raise the most money, something all the girls who play take pride in, according to Kazura.
Charlotte Latin, now coached by Gloria Cash, usually wins the top prize for money raised, but Weddington has been close recently and Coach Zoe Bell and her Ardrey Kell team are also always a factor.
The event also benefits from sponsors such as Carolina Juniors Volleyball and the Sports’ Connection to more than 60 other sponsors that support the tournament with money, goods and services, according to Kazura.
The money raised now goes to two beneficiaries, with half going to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, and half going to the Teresa Flippo-Morton, MD, Surgical Oncology Fund.
Flippo-Morton was one of the surgeons who operated on Pignetti, and one of the top doctors in Charlotte, treating an estimated 2,300 women with cancer, according to Pignetti. Flippo-Morton, who had pancreatic cancer, died June 7, 2015.
“I think the girls really get it,” Pignetti said. “They want to give back to something bigger than themselves, something bigger than volleyball.”
Kazura hopes to start a similar event in Wilmington soon. “The money we raise is great. But to have 20 different teams from 12 schools working hard and competing for this cause makes us all proud. For the (Charlotte) volleyball community to get together each year and do something like this is rare.”
