March 25, 2006 - In the final
tune-up tournament before the OVA 18U Girls Tier 1 Ontario
Championships in St. Catharines, the 18U CAPS traveled to McGill
University in Montreal to participate in the Volleyball Québec
20U Omnium du Québec.
The 18U CAPS, who were without Burcu and Laura for this tournament,
were determined to have a good showing against the top 20U teams in
Québec. Seeded 12th out of the 13 teams entered in the
tournament (the Scarborough Falcons 18U team had made the trip from
Toronto and was seeded 13th), the girls were placed in Pool A along
with the top seeded Élans de FX Garneau.
It was against a very good Élans team
that the 18U CAPS began their pool play. In two very close and
well played sets for early in the morning, the Élans proved to be
the better team, winning in two straight sets: 25-20, 25-22.
After over a two-hour break, the girls returned to the court and
methodically disposed of the Astrelles de l'Abitibi 25-23 and
25-22. After another two-hour wait, the girls played their
rivals from across the Ottawa River, the Griffons de
l'Outaouais. Needing to win at least one set to advance to
the quarter-finals of the tournament, the 18U CAPS upped their game
and handily beat the Griffons 25-11 in the first set. With a
playoff position assured, the girls' intensity seemed to sag
considerably and the Griffons rebounded to win the second set
25-18.
In the playoff round, the 18U CAPS were
matched against the first place team from the highly competitive Pool
C, the Condors de Beauce, who had finished ahead of the
University of Montréal and University of Sherbrooke 20U teams.
In a highly competitive and exciting match, the 18U CAPS prevailed in
three sets: 25-15, 22-25, 15-7. The girls had found their form
just in time, and that form continued into the semi-final match
against the Cavaliers, the University of Montreal's 20U team.
In another very close match that could have gone either way, the
Cavaliers prevailed 25-15 and 28-26. Losing the semi-final match
meant that the 18U CAPS would now face McGill University's 20U team,
the Islanders, for the bronze medal. The match would also
provide an interesting storyline, as CAPS Alumni Becky Lauks
plays for the Islanders. Unfortunately for the 18U CAPS, Becky
and the Islanders proved to be too strong for the girls and won the
bronze medal game in two straight sets, 25-17 and 25-16.
"Overall, I was pleased with our effort", stated Head Coach Matt
Harris. "We had the opportunity to play against some very good
teams and at times played some high quality volleyball.
Unfortunately, we ran out of gas at the end of a long day and came up
short in our pursuit of a medal performance."
Many thanks to the 18U team drivers,
Méziane Zéroual, Ross Fetterly and Bob O'Doherty for getting the
girls safely to Montreal and back early Sunday morning. Next up
for the 18U CAPS are the OVA 18U Girls Tier 1 Ontario
Championships at Brock University in St. Catharines on April 8-9,
where the girls will be trying to defend the Provincial title won by
last year's 18U CAPS team.
