Big Black Wins Fifth Straight Ontario Championship

This past weekend Big Black compiled a 20-0 set record to win the 2009 Ontario Provincial Championship. It was a long, three-day open tournament following the Nationals format. Teams grew increasingly more challenging each day and on the final day the girls finished off with four solid wins over Niagara Rapids 17U, National Capitals, Predators and Aurora Storm. Though days one and two had a few soft spots, on day three our play intensified each match and culminated with perhaps their strongest performance to date in the finals.

Congratulations to Aurora Storm and KW Predators for winning the Silver and Bronze medals. They have played consistently strong volleyball all year and always provided a great challenge in playoffs.

Durham Attack 18U Black - 2009 Ontario Champions

Big Black and Aurora Storm

In particular we were happy to play our friends from Aurora in the finals. They are a great team, with talent, depth, a winning attitude and highly respected coaches. Win or lose they are always the epitome of class. There are a great many friendships between the players, parents and coaches of our two teams, from years of competing indoors and on the beach and from last summer's Team Ontario. We battled with Aurora in the finals of every OVA tournament this season and as we entered the tournament the parents told each other "we hope to see you in the finals, you certainly deserve to be there!" Each team played up to their potential to gain a finals berth.

But in the finals Big Black played perhaps their strongest final match of the year, similar to the final of Beast of the East. It was great volleyball, with some good rallies and exciting plays. Strong passing and hitting, and great defense on both sides. On this day Attack was just too strong and prevailed with scores of 25-19, 25-18.

We hope to meet again at Nationals, as long as it is not until the finals!

The Drive for Five

There seems to be more parity in 18U each year as players and teams consolidate for their final year of club ball. The challenges were strong every tournament but our girls persevered each time, to win all four OVA tournaments, the Outtahand tournament, and the Niagara Invitational. We had our ups and downs and a few times played ourselves into pool play tie-breakers, or were pushed to the wall by strong teams in play-offs, but were always able to dig deep and find that little bit extra needed to pull off a win.

We expected Provincials to be a similar challenge, but except for a couple lapses in pool play the girls raised the intensity level and played strongly enough to limit opponents to no more than 20 points - the exact same pattern of play as in last year's Provincials.

Attack last won 18U provincials three years ago. This is the fifth straight year that the Attack 91 girls have won the provincial championship, starting with 14U in 2005. Over that time period the girls have only lost a single age group match in OVA or Nationals play that we can recall, that being a loss to Aurora Storm while playing short-handed in 17U. The girls have held strong, despite the constant pressure of the winning streak, and endless challenges from teams with nothing to lose and wanting to be the team to finally beat Attack Black.

Big Black is peaking at the right time of the season, but they are not done yet. The final goal of the girls' club career is to win the National Championship for their fifth straight year. The Drive for Five will begin in Ottawa in three weeks time. Until then we'll continue to work hard on our physical training and prepare for what we expect to be a strong challenge from the west. Fasten your seat belts, its going to be a wild ride!

Scores and Photos

Match scores are available on the web. And there are lots of photos here.

All Stars

Attack had a strong showing on the All-Star team. Congratulations to left sides Dianna Craine and Ali Goc for being selected as the top two outside hitters in Ontario, and Jennifer Cross as one of the top two middles.

All-Stars Dianna Craine, Ali Goc and Jen Cross

Next Up

The final tournament for the girls is 2009 Nationals in Ottawa in three weeks time. Stay tuned.

all photos...