Durham Attack | 15U Red Hawks Win 16U Bugarski Cup

Go Hawks! The Hawks are on a roll and coming together really solidly as a team. They played up a year at the 16U Bugarski Cup in Cobourg this Saturday and were a perfect 12-0 for the day, requiring only a single time-out, on their way to winning the Gold Medal.

Hawks are two-for-two in the medal department at 16U tournaments this year. They started out solid and cruised through pool play to finish first in their pool. They stepped it up a notch each time they met a stronger team through play-offs and played really solid volleyball. Kingston Pegasus Black 16U was tough in the final but the Hawks took control early in each game and powered their way through with strong serving, a tenacious defense, and strong hitting everywhere.

After the finals the officials commented on the discipline the Hawks showed all day long, their focus, and their ability to be patient, calm and organized. Nothing phased them.

The day was bright and chilly, with the promise of good things to come. All our girls arrived early (thank you parents and Timmies), fully warmed up, long before many they would meet through the day had arrived. Their efforts proved to be worthwhile, providing an example as to what you can accomplish with effort, focus and team work.

Pool Play

Match 1 against the Northumberland Breakers was a good warm-up and gave us a great opportunity to see the improved serving the girls had been working on. Hawks won 25 - 18 & 25 - 20.

Match 2 versus Astros de Marc Garneau proved to be a challenge for our girls who had to wait 2 hours, before continuing in pool play. They struggled with adapting to coverage, serving errors and hitting inconsistencies, but fought hard and dug hard. They kept the focus and pressure on, prevailing in the end 29 - 27 & 25 - 23.

Match 3 against Kingston Pegasus Flames proved to be a great opportunity to experiment with plays and serves. Here the girls were able to practice some new ideas that had yet to be perfected. Hawks won handily 25 - 7 & 25 - 12.

Playoffs

Quarters were against the Akwesasne Soaring Eagles. After the 3 hour lay-over, this proved to be a good warm-up for the Hawks to get back up to speed. The girls were able to relax a bit and enjoy the camaraderie essential to working together as a team. The Eagles were shown what impressive soaring our Hawks can do. Hawks coasted to a win 25 - 13 & 25 - 14.

Semi-finals were against the Ganaraska Wolves. This became an intense game with little to no let up of pressure from both teams. It was an impressive show of "stepping it up" by our Hawks. The digging proved both essential and inspiring with plenty of great hitting. Once again our Hawks were able to show how tenacious and cunning they can be in outmaneuvering the hungry Wolves. Hawks won 25 - 20 & 25 - 17.

Onward to the Gold medal match against Kingston Pegasus Black. This proved to be another tension-filled game with points going in a see-saw fashion until our girls were able to take command. Hawks called their first time-out of the day during this one, down 12-6, and came back on the court to break service then take the lead. The Hawks put on the pressure, seldom letting anything drop and kept the pressure on until Pegasus found themselves at the mercy of the mighty Red Hawks!! Hawks won Gold, undefeated all day, with a score of 25 - 19 & 25 - 16.

This was a great way to prepare for the Hawks' next challenge at the 15U Tier 1 Open in Cambridge on March 25th, where the top ten teams in Ontario will face-off prior to Provincials in April.

Thank-you Barry, Karen and Mike for all your hard work and thank-you Hawks for the exciting day of volleyball you gave us all.