13U White - Places 5th at Challenge Cup, Kingston

The DA 13U White teams’ 3rd tournament of the season was the Challenge Cup, on February 14th in Kingston.

The first match of the tournament saw the DA White girls up against the number one seeded team in the tourney, the Scarborough Titans ICE. While the girls put forward a valiant effort and had a few good rallies, their confidence and momentum waned as the Titans took all 3 games - 25-13, 25-8 and 25-4.

Jolted awake by a disappointing first match and the knowledge they are a better team than what they had shown, the girls faced the 6th seeded Northumberland Breakers in their second match of the day. The girls took a commanding lead in Games 1 & 2 with an aggressive display of serving and re-built their confidence to emerge victorious 25-11, 25-13. Despite a close game 3, the Breakers managed to pull off a 25-21 win.

After placing second in our pool and enjoying another amazing lunch, the girls were off to the playoffs.

The first match of the playoffs saw the girls meet up with the DRVC Orange team. DRVC caught them off guard and took an early 11-2 lead. The girls were clearly not on their game and while they fought back to take the lead 19-12, DRVC won 25-21. DA White came together in game 2 with a great 9-2 start and while DRVC battled back, the girls worked together to win the second game 25-21 and the tie-breaker 15-10.

In the second match of the playoffs the girls faced the third seeded DA Black team. Game 1 was neck and neck up to a score of 7-7. Our girls, clearly off from their best performance to date, struggled and despite a couple of hard fought and exciting rallies, the height and the strength of the Black team dominated 25-12, 25-10.

After a very long day, the girls once again met the Northumberland Breakers in a battle for 5th place. The girls started off strong once again and were able to maintain the lead through strong serving and good control of the ball, to take Game 1, 25-12. Game 2 was a close game to start off with and the girls took the lead and held on to it confidently until within one point of a win, 24-15.

Unfortunately the long day was beginning to set in with our girls as they gave up several points ending up with a difficult 26-24 loss. On to a tie-breaker, 12 hours into the day! Game 3 was again neck and neck, point for point, but the girls dug deep and found what they had in them all along and brought it home 15-12.

Overall it was a successful day albeit a bit of a roller coaster. The girls had shining moments individually and as a team as well as their share of struggles. They tied for a respectable 5th in the standings but more importantly they learned that while sometimes you may be defeated, you should never give up and defeat yourself. Special thanks to the linesman volunteers, the parents and siblings and last but not least the coaches, for being great supporters of the girls and for encouraging them to continue to learn, grow and to strive to be the best they can be. It was a Valentine’s Day to remember!

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