Durham Attack | 16U Black Finishes 5th in Rochester

The 16U Boys Black team recently placed 5th at the Rochester CAN-AM January 13-14.

Pool Play- Day 1

During pool play, the boys won matches against RVC (25-19, 25-23) and Eden Mizuno (25-13, 25-23). Their next match was against a team named SPRI. A team that had huge outside and middle hitters as well as effective defense. With great defense and effective attacks, our boys won the first set, winning 25-22, but lost a close second set 25-23. The third set proved to be a tough one, losing 15-12. With 2 wins and 1 loss, they sat 2nd in their pool.

Power Pools- Day 1

By placing 2nd in their pool, the boys had to play in another round robin in order to qualify for the championship rounds. Durham Attack defeated Pitt Elite (25-23, 25-20) to finish off the day.

Power Pools- Day 2

After enjoying a night off by either watching the football games on T.V. or relaxing in the pool, the boys came back to the court that morning not fully awake. Yorktowne, a team that the boys were fully capable of putting away early, brought the boys to a third set. But Durham Attack finished it off, winning the match 25-14, 20-25 and 15-8. This led the team to their final match against fellow Canadians, Ottawa Mavericks. This team had excellent serve/receive and defense, but the boys capitalized on their weak spots, winning 26-24 and 25-13. With 3 wins and 0 losses, the boys placed 1st in the pool to advance to the quarter-finals.

Playoffs- Day 2

With a winning streak of 3 matches, the boys seemed to have found their groove. Ready to play their next match, and SPRI shows up once again. The boys seemed determined not to be defeated this time. The first set was extremely tight, with neither team gaining any momentum. Nearing the end, or what was supposed to be the end, the score was in favour of Durham Attack, leading 24-23. But SPRI managed to win back the point and from then on it was one team gains a point, the other gains one right after, until the score ended up being 34-33, in favour of SPRI. The boys fought hard to try and win back the serve, buy they were defeated in the first set 35-33.

Although SPRI ended the set on a high note, Durham Attack came back with a bang, playing one of their best sets and easily winning the second set 25-14. The boys had the momentum, but with service errors and a few bad calls by the referee, the boys couldn’t win the third set, losing 15-12. After two busy days of competition, the 16U Attack Boys placed 5th out of 16 teams.

Looking back on the tournament, we now know what we have to work on as a team in order to take the provincial championship this year, and possibly even the national championship.

Congrats Boys!!!

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