After finishing 4th
in the 17U Tier 1 Provincial Cup in November and playing well against the top
teams, the 17U team set its sights on medaling at a 17U tournament this year.
With that goal accomplished early in the season the team is going to have
to reset its 17U goal higher.
|
 |
Pool Play
It was a
very odd day in the pools. Perhaps it was a full moon. But
all the top teams lost matches to weaker opponents, they all fell.
In fact DRVC, who won Gold at the 17U opener, finished last in its
pool. Waterloo, Scarborough Vipers, they all lost matches.
As did 16U Black.
Attack
Black started out slow again. In fact we dropped the first match
to Forest City 16U, for the first time in history. We're just
not a first-thing-in-the-morning team and this was a very bad match.
We won the first game 25-17 but dropped the second 22-25.
Despite playing badly we were even in the tie-breaker when at 12-12 a
controversial call gave Forest City the lead.
We proceeded to lose the rest of the game ourselves, 12-15. With 11 balls served off the end of
the court in the first two games, and sub-standard play we got what we
de-served. But the entire team was now warmed up and hoping for an
FC rematch some time that day. But it was not to be.
|
Properly warmed up, we took on Peel Selects 90, a hard hitting and
great digging team who had brought along two big 18U hitters who play
for the national team, who they set continuously. And they
scored a lot of points. But we were able to score more. We had strong
D, we dug enough balls, and our own hitters scored enough points to
win us the match 26-24, 25-22.
|
Our
final pool match was against Scarborough Vipers, who we lost to in the
Bronze medal match the previous tournament. Its a team with a
couple of great hitters and a very talented and deceptive setter who
you cannot read. It was a game marked by hard hitting, great
blocking and really solid serving. Three key blocks in a row by
Ali Loynachan shut down their key hitter and our powers Ali Goc, Mel
and Alysha were just hammering the ball. We won the match 25-20,
25-22. Later in the afternoon one of the Scarborough parents
said to our girls "Are you the 16U team? You guys are incredible.
We've never lost to a younger team. Ever." And they did play
incredibly that match, it was something to see. But the best was yet to
come.
|
We
finished first in our pool which gave us a break before the quarters.
|
Play-offs
|
But is was
a four hour break. Pool play did not finish until late
afternoon. We had to wait four hours before our quarter final
match against Aurora Storm, so guess what - it was like first game in
the morning for us again. We trailed in the first game 20-10.
But this team never gives up. We fought our way back to tie at
22, took the lead at 23, but Storm would not die. We traded
points until we could finally close out the first game 30-28. We
trailed again in the second game but caught up and clawed out a 25-23
win. This was a match with long rallies and great digs on both
sides. The Aurora parents observed that these are two perfectly
matched teams, and we would have to agree. We had the same two-point difference in both games in the season opener.
|
This
set us up for a semi-final with DRVC, a very strong team who won Gold
at the season opener, beating us in a tie-breaker in the semis.
We really wanted this one and played with emotion. We shocked
them in the first set, winning 25-18. They came back hard to win the
second 25-20. But this time we came out really strong in the
tie-breaker and had an 8-3 lead when we changed sides. DRVC
battled back but could not catch us, and we won 15-12. This was
a huge victory for the girls, and a message to DRVC. Defeating
DRVC 17U was one of our goals this season - time to set our sights
higher.
|
Which took us to the final against Waterloo Tigers. By this time
it was nearly 9 p.m. and neither team played with much intensity.
We played a solid game and both teams hit well, particularly the Tigers
6'4" national team middle. Tigers had more success in the
hitting department and took the match 25-19, 25-17, well deserved. Exhausted
after 13 hours of volleyball, our girls were happy to call it a day
with the Silver medal.
|
|
Where To
Next? |
|
Again
the team had huge success in 17U with pretty even playing time and with our middle Rebecca Glancy sidelined by a broken
finger. Middles Ashley Mulholland and Lisa Hooey played great in
the middle position, against bigger opponents. What can we do in
17U with a healthy team if we work hard at improving for the next
tournament? Only one thing to set our sights on - the 17U Gold medal.
|
|
Final
Results |
|
1.
Waterloo Tigers Black
2. Durham Attack Black 16U (Oshawa)
3. Scarborough Vipers
4. DRVC (Whitby)
5. Peel Selects 90 (Brampton)
5. Aurora Storm Hurricanes
7. South County Bandits (Essex)
7. National Capitals (Ottawa)
9. Forest City 16U (London)
10. Durham Attack Black (Oshawa)
11. Niagara Rapids (St. Catharines)
|
|
|
