15U Girls Win 16U Bronze

The 15U Black Girls Team played their first 16U tier one tournament yesterday, at St. Mary's in Pickering and true to form they did not disappoint.

The first game of the day saw the girls pitted against the number 3 seeded team of the tournament and last year's provincial champions the Predators, formerly the Waterloo Tigers. This match would set the tone for the entire day. The 15U's stepped onto the court and left no doubt in anyone's mind why they are the number one ranked 15U team in Ontario. The first set of this game saw the girls play probably their strongest set of volleyball to date as the set was practically flawless. The Predators were stopped in their tracks as the 15's executed play after play to perfection and served an errorless game to win the first set 25-15. The second set saw the Predators wake up but it was too little too late and Attack defeated them again 25-20.

The next game in pool play was against the DRVC 15U team. Attack, having the advantage of having faced DRVC numerous times this season, quickly and with precision defeated them in two straight sets 25-18 and 25-22 finishing pool play undefeated and keeping their winning streak of not losing a single set intact.

Then began the wait ................. the LONG wait. Four and a half hours later, the 15U Attack Team would FINALLY get a chance to take the court again against the Forest City team, out of London. While waiting for the game to begin, you could hear the chatter and the relief in the voices of the Forest City Players talking about this being "only the 15U Durham Team and not the 16U Durham Team". That relief and chatter was silenced very quickly when the 15U's took possession of the ball and as such the game. With hard hitting, huge blocks, incredible digs and impeccable serving the 15's easily took the first set 25-18. The shell shocked Forest City Players, bruised from the first set, came out strong in the second set and squeaked out a victory of 26-24 over the 15's, earning them the distinction of being the first team this season to take a set from this dominant 15U team. So, for the first time this season the 15's would play a 3rd set and they accepted the challenge head on. Attack was leading at the switch 8-5 and with determination and skill finished off the match 15-11 to earn them a birth in the semi-finals.

The semi's had Attack facing the Titans Synergy team out of Scarborough. This match would prove to be the toughest match of the day for the 15U team. The first set was a battle, each and every point, but the 15's dug deep and managed to come away with a 25-23 win against an incredibly strong hitting team. The second game our team played far too safely against the strong defense of the Titans. The 15's dropped this set 18-25. The third set saw much of the same and the Titans took the 3rd set to win 15-7 and become the first team to defeat our 15U team.

So off to Battle for Bronze the 15U's would go. The Bronze Medal match would have the 15U's facing the South County Bandits, the number one seed of the tournament and the team that our 16U Black Team had just defeated in the semi's. The 15U's, frustrated with the outcome of the semi's, came out with a vengeance to prove that they could win when not daunted by solid obstacles. The first set saw Taylor Simons put on a serving clinic as she served ball after ball to the Bandits to move the team quickly to a first set win of 25-14. The second set saw Attack continue their domination as they easily defeated the Bandits 25-12 and as such win their first bit of hardware in 16U tier one, a Bronze medal.

It was a great day with some fabulous volleyball as the 15U's faced their toughest competition so far this year and true to form this team did not disappoint. Maybe the most important thing was that they also showed their coach that, even after a loss, they could rebound to play amazing volleyball....like champions!

The girls, as a whole, did amazingly well throughout this day executing plays, digging balls, blocking their opponents and serving a variety of serves throughout the day, that delighted the spectators and infuriated their opponents. Passing was tremendous all day, with special mention to Jodie for "passing dimes" and giving our setters some excellent opportunities to run our offence. Every girl contributed on offence, however, it was truly amazing to see these girls dig some "big balls" and scramble to win points that many teams would have given up on. That being said, special recognition for this tournament has to be given to Emily Nicolishen, who despite being ill, showed courage and stayed on the court and managed to play remarkably well digging balls that made watching truly enjoyable.

Congratulations 15U's on another successful tournament!!

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