March 4, 2006 - The 16U CAPS
completed their regular tournament schedule at the OVA 16U Girls
Tier 1 Open in Whitby. Coach Matt Harris was in Sherbrooke
with the 18Us so Algonquin College's Everton Senior was
gracious enough to take the reins for the
day.
Play began with a match against the always
tough DRVC (Ashburn). Gerald Brunt and his team lived up
their third seed ranking. The first game was close, as our CAPS
went down 23-25, with the second ending once again in our opponents'
favour at 18-25. The second match of the day was against
South County Bandits (Essex). In the first set the CAPS won
easily by a 25-9 score - this may have inspired a false sense of
confidence. In the second set the Bandits woke up and handed us
a 20-25 loss, forcing a third game. In the third, SC continued
their winning ways to a final score of 10-15. The third match of
pool play was against Birchcliff Crush. In this series
the CAPS played well, winning 25-15 and 25-23. The win was
Everton's first match victory as a 16U CAPS coach and put them into
2nd place in their pool.
After a break, the girls took on the
Waterloo Tigers. The first set was a nail-biter all the way
up to an exciting 27-25 win. The high of that success left
Tigers hungry for a win and they roared back in the second, winning
19-25. In the third set the CAPS led for most of the game and,
although it got tense near the end, the girls held on for the win,
15-13. The win vaulted the team through to the top four where
they were sure to meet the toughest teams in the
province.
The semifinal was a rematch of the 2005
Eastern Nationals gold medal matchup. The Scarborough
Vipers lived up to their hard-working and tough reputation,
handing the CAPS 17-25 and 15-25 losses.
So it was on to the bronze medal match
where we came full circle on the day and faced DRVC. The
CAPS battled hard and matched up well against their opponents but, in
the end, DRVC held fast and gained the upper hand in both sets.
Final scores were 21-25 and 18-25. Overall the CAPS improved
tremendously over the day and moved from 9th to 4th place in the
overall 16U OVA standings.
Many thanks to the Hofmanns as well as the
McDowells for Friday evening's accommodations. Also, a very
warm thank you to Everton and his family who made the trip down
on such short notice. The 16U CAPS' next tournament is the
OVA 17U Girls Ontario Championships in St. Catharines on April 1st
and 2nd.
Results/OVA 16U Girls Tier 1
Open:
Gold: Scarborough Vipers
Silver: Durham Attack Black
(Oshawa)
Bronze: DRVC (Ashburn)
4. National Capitals
5. Waterloo Tigers
5. Durham Attack 15U (Oshawa)
7. South County Bandits (Essex)
7. Aurora Storm Hurricanes
9. Stratford Stingers
9. Birchcliff Crush
9. Waterdown Raiders
9. Peel Selects (Brampton)
