Durham Attack | Girls 14U Red Compete in McGregor Cup

The Durham Attack GU14 Red team journeyed to Barrie to compete in the McGregor Cup, Tier 2 on December 2. The team was a couple players short, which posed some unique coaching and on-court challenges (i.e. a middle playing setter).

Pool Play

The day began well, with a victory over South County Black, 25-12 and 25-21. This was followed by a win against the Waterdown Raiders. The match culminated in a tie breaker that Attack Red put away easily 15-7. In the final match of pool play, the team faced the 3rd ranked Etobicoke Titans. The match was hard fought. The first game resulted in a rather humbling loss of 11-25. Attack Red pulled it together to take the 2nd game easily at 25-12. The tie breaker game fell to the Titans, 8-15. As a result, Attack Red finished with a second place ranking in pool play.

Play-offs

The pivotal play off match of the day pitted Attack Red against Toronto West. In the first game, the girls played really well, with some spectacular digs, powerful serving, and strategic setting and hitting. They refused to give up on some tough rallies, and returned the ball several times to Toronto West who was prematurely celebrating their point! (Note to collective self: don’t celebrate ‘til you know the ball is really dead!)

The game ended with a comfortable score of 25-15.

The second game was neck-in-neck, with Attack holding a 1-4 point lead until the last 4 points. Toronto West kept up the pressure and won the game 23-25 on a lifting call. So, it was tie-breaker time. Again, the teams were virtually tied up to a score of 11-11. What happened next was quick and painful. Toronto West scored 4 points in rapid succession due to a couple of errors, and a couple of brilliant but out of bounds defensive plays by Attack Red. It was what we euphemistically refer to as a “character building moment” for the team, as they realized they were out of medal contention.

Attack Red went on to face the Waterdown Raiders in the final play off match of the day (this match determined the 5th and 7th place teams). Attack Red put both games away 25-16 and 25-13.

Durham Attack ended the day with a respectable 5th place finish. It was interesting to observe that the majority of errors were on amazing hits or serves that went just out-of-bounds. The team is looking forward to their next tournament, and has strengthened their resolve to fine-tune their game and turn up the intensity.

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