Girls 13U Black Near the Finish Line
By Jean Neilly
Our
sensational season ended this weekend with the Tier 1 Provincials in
Newmarket. We went into the weekend with our own very high
expectations and the same expectations put upon us by all the other
Tier 1 teams.
On Saturday, we certainly did not disappoint anyone. Even
experienced coaches commented that watching our team was like watching
the game played in "slow motion." Every pass, set and attack was
confident and clean. We sailed through the day winning all our
matches and finishing first in our pool. The girls were amazing
to watch and were positive all day long. As a coach, it was a
joy to see.
High expectations continued as our "nemesis" Aurora Storm-Thunder had
also finished first in their pool and were also in the quarter finals.
We had planned our strategy for our game against them.
In the meantime we had the "Awards of Excellence" presentation.
Rianna McNeill was our recipient. She serves, passes, sets and
hits with great enthusiasm and success. The award could have
gone to several players as all of our girls have strengths in all
areas of the game. Rianna was just a little more consistent.
Then came our quarter final match against Scarborough Titan's Magic.
Unfortunately, we were thinking too far ahead, and forgot we had to
play as hard against this team. Magic were a tenacious group of
volleyball players who chased everything down and threw everything at
us. We just came up a little bit flat, making some poor
decisions and forgetting to talk to each other or move our feet.
We placed the ball, but it was usually to a person instead of to an
open spot. In both sets we climbed back from a big deficit only
to fall a little short on the last few points. Consequently, we
lost our quarter final which put us out of the medals for the very
first time all season.
We are
all asking ourselves, "Why did it have to be at this tournament?"
Our team handled the defeat with poise and dignity and were determined
to finish as high as possible. This was no easy feat when you were
down because you knew in your heart that you were better than your
finishing position. 13U Black finished in 5th.
Over
the season in 13U we have won 2 Golds and 1 Silver in Tier 1 and by
far had the most points. Yes, we are disappointed in our
Provincial results, but it only makes us more determined to go for
GOLD in 14U Tier 3 on April 21 and 22.
Whoever
has the opportunity to coach these girls next year will soon learn how
blessed they are. All of the girls show wonderful skills in
passing, serving and yes, even hitting. They are a coach's dream.
Both of their coaches this year have been lucky to work with them and
very proud to be a part of their volleyball careers.
Stay
tuned for the future endeavours of 13U Black.
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