February 25, 2006 -  From this parent's perspective on things, the volleyball world looks pretty amazing.  From these eyes, that don't get a chance to see much tournament play, things on the court are so exciting.  Over the weekend I sat in a gym filled with more energy than I have seen in quite awhile at the OVA 14U Girls Tier 1 Open:  a dozen teams and their coaches and families from all over the province; four teams on both sides of the court desperately trying to control balls flying here and there; frazzled nerves, overflowing family pride, huge amounts of motivational therapy.  The noise, the excitement and anticipation was really quite overwhelming.

What would happen in 9 hours of tournament play would determine who would reign as the top 14U girls volleyball team in the province - for another few weeks anyway.  The top seeded team might be ousted and there could be upsets, but by the end of the day, these girls would be totally spent and exhausted.  Lessons would be learned by the players and coaches, and all this information would be absorbed and analyzed in time for Provincials in just over a month so we could come right back and do it all over again.

 

So there we were - on Saturday the girls woke up to a heavy snowfall and headed out to U of T!  The girls were well rested, well fed and up for a great day of Tier 1 volleyball in Scarborough.

 

The first match against DRVC 13U looked pretty even.  The games were close but the girls lost a tough one in three: 23-25, 25-22, 12-15.  The girls faced some last minute changes on the court but rose to the challenge after taking a little time to find their momentum.  DRVC lost a little steam but came back for the win, just in the nick of time.

 

The second match of the morning pitted the girls against Impact Black from Georgetown.  It was instantly clear that the competition wasn't going to get any easier.  Impact Black took the lead early then let the Capitals have a few points by making some mistakes, but this Tier 1 team then showed what they were made of and dropped the CAPS in two straight sets.

 

The afternoon saw another loss to Titans Ice (Scarborough) but, after a little nourishment, the girls regrouped and showed that they still had something left for their final match of the day against Oakville Thunder.  The girls' service game came on strong and led the CAPS to a swift 25-11 set 1 victory.  Then the Thunder roared back.  Digging every hit, no matter where it was placed, Oakville won the last 2 games with only a few points to spare.

 

3 of these teams are going home with medals but the other 9 are still in the top 12 in the province.  Congratulations girls for all your hard work at the tournament, and have within their reach a Tier 1 Provincial Championship.  Special thanks to Coach Rebecca for stepping in and bravely taking on the task of leading this team into the final stretch of their hard-fought season.  There has been a lot to deal with of late.  Things will only get better now as the coach and the team continue to get to know each other and work hard towards reaching their rightful place in the 14U world.