13U Red Back-to-Back Tournaments

Well it is now 2009 and another great and busy year in 13U volleyball is upon us. Our first tournament this year for Durham Attack- Red team was in Brighton. The girls had a late start and had to play 3 sets in every match of pool play because there were only 3 teams in their pool. They were all fired up for their first match against the Cornwall Northumberland Breakers. It all started off with awesome serving from #10 Cassidy Sullivan and #4 Sheridan Mason. The girls took the first match 25-18. The second game was a little hard on the competition and the girls ruled the game with a 25-6 win, this game also was a great serving game for #8 Amanda Mulholland. Game 3 was also a decisive victory for the Red team with a commanding lead early on and keeping it up with a 25-16 win.

The second match of the day was against Aurora Storm Blizzard , this one was a nail biter. The team was still warmed up and ready to go from their first match victory but, the Storm Blizzard had another idea. The girls started out a lingering with a 7-13 lead for the competition. They put on their game faces and got the score to within 1 point, 14-15. The Storm Blizzard then pulled back away one point at a time with a lead of 14-19. Roland called a time out and the girls hit the floor pumped. The next few points were hard to watch but #14 Linsay Welch served up a tie game at 22 all. The Durham Attack-Red finally won the game with a 25-22 victory. With the Team still pumped from their win, they had a fairly easy go of it for their next game. Some outstanding playing from #6 Olivia Hartley aided the Team’s win at 25-13. The third game for the team was a little closer. The girls were getting a little tired but not too tired to pull out another win. The Final score being 25-23.

After a break and lunch the team’s first match in the playoffs was against DRVC-Blue. The match started out with a close first few points 0-3, 2-5, 5-8, all for the opposing team. The girls ramped up to tie it at 12-12 and then slowly pulled ahead 14-12. After a quick time out the girls pulled away 20-14. DRVC was not ready to give up without a fight and got it back to 23-23. After a great game by all the girls they came up a little too short and DRVC-Blue won 25-23. Game 2 was also a hard one to watch as DRVC came back fighting and hot after their big win. The game started out point for point until the opposition pulled ahead 17-10. Durham Attack was not ready to give up that easy and had it all tied up at 22-22. With the DRVC having the edge and momentum from the last game they struggled to win 22-25.

We had a bit of a wait while the playoffs played out and our final match of the day was against our “sister” team Durham Attack-White. The match stated out with the White team giving us a run for our money and keeping up point for point until at was all tied up 18-18. The Attack-Red team was able to find it in themselves and were able to pull out a win at 20-25. After an exciting and busy day of volleyball all of the girls were anxious to get this game underway and with little hesitation they quickly got the game on with a 16-7 lead. As it is never a great thing to play against your club members the girls finished up the game with a 25-12 victory.

As always, thanks to Tami and Roland for their patience and leadership. Thanks to Erich Perau for his watching the lines. To the parents of the Durham Attack–Red team thanks for your time and commitment and to the girls, Thanks for a great day of volleyball.

Kingston

It was only a week till our next tournament in Kingston so I have put two tournaments into one article. Kingston was our first 14U tournament for our 13U girls and boy did they deliver.

The first match was against the Northumberland Breakers, being our first 14U match the girls were a little intimidated but had no reason to be because they totally kept up with the competition all through the day. The score was pretty close all through the first match, 3-1, 4-3, 6-5, 10-7, the girls were finally up 17-13. The Breakers did finally get ahead and dominated the lead for a 25-22 win. With the first game under their belt and the nerves settled a bit it was on to game 2. This game was a great moral booster for the girls because they brought a whole new level of play with them this time. The team refused to let this team walk away with the game and held them point for point. It started out with a 2-0 lead for the Attack. The game stayed within 3 points for the whole game, once again great serving by #10 Cassidy Sullivan. It was a 25-25 game. The girls gave it their all to win this one but it just wasn’t meant to be. The Breakers squeaked out a 27-25 win. The team once again had to play 3 games due to only 3 teams in their pool. Little did we know that the girls were only getting better and better. The third game was pretty much a carbon copy of the last one with the exception of a much better ending. The team took command at the half way point and ended up with a 25-22 win. Go Girls!

The second match was right away and the team was pumped and ready to go. The match was against the Ottawa Kangaroos and once again the team was focused and ready to play. This was once again a great match for the girls as they were in total control of the game. They did not falter once in this game and won with a victory of 25-16. The second game was more of a challenge than the first but once again with great coaching from Tami and Roland the team came up with another exciting win 26-24. The girls were very happy with the outcome of this game and were ready to get the third game on. The team once again came out with both barrels blazing with an early 8-3 lead. Terrific court play and serving by #13, Lynn Anderson. This game was another close one in the end 20-20, 21-20, 22-21, 24-21, with a final 25-21. The girls took all 3 games to win this set 3-0.

With lunch and pool play over and a bit of a wait the girls were ready to get things rolling again. Our first match was against Team Pegasus and it was again another great match for the girls. Even though they lost both games, the first one was 26-28 so you can imagine how the back and forth advantage kept the Team and fans on edge. Despite great powerful serving from Pegasus the girls were able to keep things very close in the match. The girls pulled ahead at the mid way point 15-9. They kept the lead until Pegasus came back and tied things up 20-20. The Attack was able to match up to their opponents and finally ended the game with a 25-22 win. We were off to a tie breaker. Things started out not so great for the Attack with Pegasus leading 7-3. The Attack fought back with a 7-9 lead at one point but it was not meant to be and they lost a heartbreaker 11-15.

After a long day and evening the girls had finally reached the last match of the tournament. The match was against the Knights from Pembroke. The team once again brought it to the court and put up a great fight. This match also went to a 3 game tie-breaker with the girls falling just short. The first game was a close 22-25 loss for the Attack, great digs by #5 Jamie Cernele. Game 2 couldn’t have gone any better for the Attack even though it was 8 PM by this point and the girls had been at the gym for 9 hours. They won… smashing their opponents 25-11. I can’t say enough how much the girls left everything on the court every time out, including this last game of the tournament. The Knights had total control of this game pulling ahead 11-2 at one point. After a time-out and a quick breather the girls focused and brought it back 4-11, 5-11, 5-12………………..11-13 for Durham Attack. I feel I can speak for most of the spectators; we were all on the edges of our seats. Once again the team just missed out on a 5th place finish with a final score of 13-15 for the Knights. Outstanding placement for a 13U Team in a 14U Tournament!

After a great couple of weekends of very exciting volleyball these girls proved that their hard work during practice with great coaches bring successful gameplay to each and every tournament. Great Job Durham Attack-Red!!

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