The #4  seed CAPS started the day strongly by going undefeated through the round robin portion of the tournament, defeating the #12 seed Cambridge Hawks (25-19, 25-17) and avenging their November loss in the final of the McGregor Cup by defeating the #5 seed Durham Attack Black (25-14, 25-21).  In the playoff round, the girls continued their strong play with victories over #8 seed York Stingrays in the quarter-finals (25-14, 25-17) and #1 seed and defending Provincial Champions Waterloo Tigers Black in the semis (25-16, 25-22).

The finals brought the CAPS up against a team this group of girls hadn't faced in over a year and a half, Peel Selects from Brampton.  In the first set our CAPS encountered passing woes and came up well short of victory, 15-25.  The second set was a tighter battle, but the CAPS played from the front throughout, benefitting from some smart, well-placed hits and timely blocking of the Selects' big hitters.  They took the set 25-20.  But in set 3 that block went away and, despite winning a ping-pong style point featuring a ball off the head, the CAPS went down to defeat 10-15.

"Considering we were coming off a two week break, the girls showed great intensity out there today," stated Acting Head Coach Matt Harris,  "but you're not going to beat a big team like Selects without a big blocking game and mistake-free ball.  Silver's never what you're aiming for, but the best players in the province were out there today - I'm proud of the girls."

The 18U CAPS will next travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA to play in the Martin Luther King Kick Off Classic which will run over the January 15th-17th MLK Day long weekend.  It's the second time around at the Classic for six of these girls, who played in this tournament in 2004, finishing 3rd out of 36 teams.

Final Standings (top four) - OVA 18U Tier 1 Challenge Cup