April 22-23, 2006 - Excitement was in the air as our girls, coaches, parents and siblings (Matt Billings, John Mostert) embarked for our last Ontario tournament, the OVA 16U Girls Ontario Championships at Jacob Hespeler Secondary School in Cambridge.  We had a wonderful showing of parents and family to support our girls over the weekend, some travelling from London, Burlington, Thornhill and Dundas.  Thanks to all of you for your love, encouragement and support.

We arrived at Conestoga College Residence in Kitchener and were surprised to find some of the rooms nestled amongst some rather serious student party monsters!  Don't they know it's exam time!  Not to worry - a quick change of rooms on Saturday ensured a restful second night (almost 12 hours).

An added bonus to our weekend was having our 15U CAPS team competing in the same tournament.  A strong bond encompasses this club's players and, for each match played, the girls encouraged and cheered on the "Baby CAPS" (not too "baby", judging by some of the hits and blocks witnessed over the weekend!) and they excitedly did so in return.

The 16U CAPS entered the tournament seeded fourth in Pool D with three other worthy adversaries: Waterloo Tigers Black, Birch Cliff Crush and Etobicoke Titans Thunder.  A little nervous and excited (parents too) the girls started off the tournament with a win over Etobicoke: 25-22, 25-17.

The second match also ended with a CAPS victory, this time against Birch Cliff Crush: 25-19, 26-24.  Both teams fought hard, but it was apparent that our girls' blocking, hitting and serving were our strong points.  All were hopeful this momentum would continue.

Our most challenging game of the day was fought against Waterloo Tigers Black; a team the girls love to meet in competition.  This game was fun to watch, with step-arounds, quick sets and stellar blocks setting an entertaining standard.  In the end, it would be Tigers that would pull out a close victory by scores of 21-25 and 23-25.  This placed the 16Us second in pool and off to the first round of playoffs against Niagara Rapids.

4:00 pm sharp and the girls still had plenty of energy and enthusiasm, leading to another CAPS win (25-19, 25-14) against Niagara and the end to a long day of hard fought matches.  Our hope was to dine together, 15U, 16U and parents, but (surprisingly) no restaurant could accommodate 50 at 8:00 pm!!!  So we 'ordered' in and spent a quiet evening in the basement residence lounge, playing billiards, ping pong and watching the hockey game.  The girls asked for an quick team meeting and all settled early.

A wonderful sleep in on Sunday morning, our usual morning breakfast at Tim's and we were off to the gym in time to watch the 15Us (who also dispatched Niagara Rapids) and then to participate in the OVA Award of Excellence presentations.  Coaches from all over Ontario had the privilege and difficulty of choosing a player from their team to receive this award.  The 16U recipient was Kalyn Mostert who joins Gina Morphy, the recipient from 17U division play a few weeks back at 17U Provincials.  Congratulations were in order from their supportive teammates, coaches and parents.

The start of Sunday play for the CAPS meant competing against another worthy adversary: DRVC.  Historically, the two teams have a win-loss relationship; we beat them one tournament, then they beat us.  This was our turn, but alas DRVC took both games 20-25 and 17-25. Unfortunately, this match decided which team would advance to compete in the medal round, so our girls were relegated to the battle for 5th place.

Extremely disappointed, but even more determined to finish 5th overall, the girls fought back against Aurora Storm Hurricanes, winning 25-22 and 25-18.  Our final match of the day pitted the girls up against Durham Attack 15U.  This 15U team quickly garnered the girls' respect as they battled hard and proved to be tough competition.  The CAPS were looking for a little revenge, as Attack had beaten them at the beginning of the season!  Their wish was granted as the CAPS fought on to victory 13-25, 25-12 and 15-10, for a final 5th place Ontario ranking.

Coach Matt Harris congratulated the girls for an excellent tournament.  "Considering the amazing level of play at this division of the OVA, 5th place overall is something for the girls to be really proud of - especially after being forced to gather it up after such a heartbreaker against DRVC in the quarters - that was a tough draw."  He added,  "The girls have worked really, really hard all season, made the commitment to do the extra 17U tournaments - they've done all they could to run with the best in the league.  They earned their spot with the best teams in Ontario."

Thank you to Matt for providing excellent coaching and support throughout this tournament, and all season long.  Thanks also to Rebecca Chambers for making the trip to help out Matt this weekend.  A special mention should go out to our fearless linesmen this season: Basil Sim, Gleb Sturov, Hugh Billings, and Brian Morphy.  We had many laughs that broke nervous tension for all the parents while being assured that we had the best, most honest, linesmen around!

The team now looks forward to the Volleyball Canada Canadian West Open - 15/16 & Under in Calgary, from May 20th to 22nd.