May 8, 2005 -  It's been a long road travelled by the 18U Girls to get to their final tournament together, the Volleyball Canada 18 & Under Girls Canadian Open, held over 3 days in Moncton, New Brunswick this past May 6-8.  Some of these girls have been together four, five, and - in the case of Tess and Kate - even six years.  This would be their last chance to 'fight the good fight' together, and wage a battle they did.

The team left in three vans on Wednesday morning, had a brief workout at a local Fredericton elementary school that evening hosted by the local Reds Volleyball Club 18U team, another workout Thursday evening at the Moncton Agrena & Coliseum complex, and settled in for a long weekend of action at the University of Moncton fieldhouse on Friday morning.  First on the scorecard for the tournament's overall #6 seed Capitals was Mistral from Vaudreuil-Dorion in Quebec, who went down swiftly to the CAPS by scores of 25-16 and 25-14.  Opponent #2 was Ducks - Bryan from Coquitlam, B.C.  This eventual Top 8 team put up a strong fight against the Ontario Champions, but ended up losing in three: 25-20, 18-25, 15-12.  After a two match layoff, the final match of the day pitted the CAPS against a young but talented Dinos 17 squad from Calgary.  Even though they had not dropped a match that day, the CAPS were now required to at least take Set #2 from the Dinos in order to qualify for the top half of  Division 1, 32 team action on Saturday.  The CAPS dropped the first set in a squeaker, 25-27.  After a day of somewhat uninspired play, the girls were now forced to bring their A-game to keep their championship dreams alive, and that they did, beating the Calgary team by a score of  25-18.  The CAPS then went on to take top spot in their pool with an exciting 15-13 third set victory.

Before Saturday's afternoon action, the team headed off for a brisk peek at Parlee Beach in Shediac and then to GUY'S FRENCHYS second-hand thrift shop for some rummaging through the bargain bins.  Everyone found at least one or two things to bring home, but the 'Catch-of-The-Day' had to go to Tess' Mum Eva and her $6 sequined disco dress.  Ooh-la-la.

The CAPS' extremely tough Saturday "Power Pool" at the much more fan-friendly Moncton Agrena consisted of an Ontario Region 6 rival and the two top teams from perennial volleyball powerhouse Manitoba.  Game #1 in this afternoon wave was against Ontario's DRVC.  Things looked pretty bleek for DRVC after the CAPS romped to a 25-12 first set win, but this beating certainly seemed to wake up the hard-hitting Ashburn team as they came back to take Set #2 from our CAPS, 25-20.  However the girls regained their rhythm in the third to take the match with a 15-8 victory.

Saturday's second opponent was the eventual tournament runner-up, Club West Rage, from Virden, Manitoba.  The CAPS were never quite able to catch up to Rage's quick attack style in Game #1 and dropped the set, 25-14.  But a switch to the alternate CAPS defensive strategy changed everything around in Set #2.  This was a fantastic game full of high-powered offense from each team, exceptional defensive plays, and blocking - lots and lots of 'in-your-face' blocking.  However, at the end of what proved to be the most exciting and well-played set of the tournament for our girls, the outcome would not be in their favour.  The CAPS battled, but went down to defeat in a scorcher, 25-23.

According to Coach O'Doherty, "Losing the last set in such a close contest was really disappointing for our players.  We adjusted very well to their offence, but Club West Rage is an excellent team, and the match came down to a few great plays by the opposition to give them the edge.  That was some fast-paced, exciting volleyball!"

 

So now the girls were in a do-or-die situation, forced to defeat the highly regarded Bisons from Winnipeg in their 8:00 PM match in order to advance to the Elite Eight round of championship play.  I don't think any of the girls would be writing home about the result of their efforts in Set #1, as the Bisons hit over, around and through the CAPS first and second line of defence.  The girls just did not seem able to get their passing and hitting games in gear in this set and went down to one of their worst losses of the season, 10-25.  Set #2 was a different story as the girls once again did what it took to get back into the match.  After battling out to a 12-7 lead however, the CAPS allowed the Bisons' strongest rotation to bang them back into the set.  The CAPS lost the lead and were only able to play catch up to the larger Winnipegers after that.  It was towards the end of this set that setter Tess Edwards suffered a tough index finger sprain and middle Jessica Wolfenden fell to a left ankle twist.  Both players did their best to soldier on, but it was obvious that, at least in Jessie's case, her tournament was over.  The CAPS limped to a 20-25 loss, and with that were relegated to the Division 1 Tier 2 round of playoffs for Sunday's final day of action.

There was not much consoling to be done for the girls after their dream of a championship was extinguished, but Coach O'Doherty did her best to keep the girls focussed by reminding them of their truly elite national placing, and that a finish in the Top Ten had always been her stated goal for this team.  Sunday would be a tournament within a tournament, and a ninth place National ranking would now be the prize.

Day 3 began with a somewhat uneventful Division 1 Tier 2 quarter final match against Sussex Sonics from New Brunswick.  The injury list was growing: Tess and her 3-fingered left hand, Jessie gone with a blown ankle, starting power Meghan O'Doherty playing libero due to her strained shoulder, and Alex Daymond on the bench with her aggravated wrist injury.  Coach O'Doherty's bench support was now called into action as Melissa Zéroual and Heather Potts came in to do really solid work at the middle position, with Fritznique Richemond coming in at libero and Liz Wilson playing both libero and power, (and both mixing in a little lines calling for good measure).  Katee Luecke was ready as ever, subbing in when required at the setter/right side position.  With everyone chipping in, the CAPS took the Sonics in two: 25-17, 25-19.

The D1 T2 semi final match pitted the CAPS against Calgary's Sweat.  The CAPS only had to work up a little sweat to defeat the Albertans, coming away with a 25-19, 25-22 straight sets victory and securing their berth in the tournament's Top Ten.

Oddly enough, the 18U Girls' final match together would pit them against the team they had defeated in St. Catharine's for the Ontario Championship, Peel Selects.  This was an entertaining match but not the all-out war that we had seen at Provincials.  In the end, it would be Selects who would prevail this time around, 21-25 and 20-25 to take that overall 9th place away from the CAPS, who finished the tournament with a very respectable 10th place National ranking and a handsome D1 T2 silver medallion.

After the match, Cathy O'Doherty commented, "Playing our old friends Peel Selects in the Tier 2 final was somewhat anti-climactic.  The whole team had performed very well throughout the day but we just couldn't seem to get pumped for this final match.  Peel played good, controlled ball, scoring mainly from the power side, but our defence never got on a roll so we struggled through much of the match.  A tenth place finish was not the result the girls had hoped for but there is certainly no shame in coming Top Ten in Canada.  Matt, Newton and I are very proud of the team - their effort, their undying attitude, and their passionate play."

So there would be neither jubilation nor sadness with the girls as they settled in to one last team meeting after the tournament.  Both of these emotions had been taken care of the day before when they were bumped out of the championship round.  It will be during the days, weeks and months ahead that these young ladies, their coaches, parents and fellow clubmates will come to the realization that there will be no more warmups between Tess and Kate, Megs and Jess, nor Ashley and Becky.  Heather too will be moving on after one crazy season of club volleyball and a few Nationals games when she played her absolute best ball of the season with this special group of seasoned veterans.  I'm sure all of those involved in this club and in the development of the careers of these fine players and people will agree that we have been blessed to witness in action one of the most memorable group of players to have ever graced the club volleyball stage.  The NCVC says "Thank you" and "Bonne voyage" as you now graduate from club ball and head off on your separate volleyball and academic journeys:

For the record, the 18U Girls finished the 2004-2005 season with a record of 57 wins and 12 losses in 69 matches for an overall winning percentage of almost 83%.  The team competed in 1 National, 5 Ontario, 3 Quebec, and 2 U.S. tournaments, winning 8 medals, including 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze, and finished in a tie for 5th place after 23 weeks of Thursday evening OCVL competition.

We would be remiss were we not to thank all those who did the groundwork to get this team to all their many tournaments this season: Cathy, Matt and Newton, who sacrificed so much of their free time to turn these girls into the champions that they are, the parents, relatives, drivers, managers, linespeople, statisticians and anyone who has come forward this season just to cheer the girls on.  But a special "Thank You" is reserved for Bob and Cathy O'Doherty who really did some special work in mapping out this very long, eventful and truly memorable final journey for our 18U Girls.  There was only one shot at getting this right and I think all will agree that this last season was a fitting final ride for The Original Six and their fantastic teammates.

A big "Cheers!" to all involved: "6-1-3... N-C!!!"

Top Ten Standings - Volleyball Canada 18U Girls Canadian Open: