October 1, 2006 - With the
pressure of September tryouts behind them and the addition of four
quality players to an already talent-filled roster, 18U CAPS Head
Coach Cathy O'Doherty and Assistant Coach Matt Harris were anxious and
ready to see their 13-player roster in action. With nine girls
returning from last season's 18U CAPS team that finished ranked 3rd in
Ontario and 5th in Canada, the 2006-2007 edition of the 18U CAPS have
high expectations for this upcoming season.
As has been customary in previous years,
the 18U CAPS kicked off their 2006-2007 competitive season by entering
the Invitations des Griffons hosted by the Collège de
l'Outaouais on the last weekend in September across the Ottawa
river in Gatineau, QC. This year's tournament featured the host
team, Collège André-Laurendeau from Montreal and
Algonquin College from Ottawa. The format of the tournament
included best of five sets round robin play with each match having a
four set minimum, as well as semi-final and final matches, and
provided lots of opportunities for court time for all the 18U
girls.
In their first round robin game on the
Friday night, the CAPS played the host team, Les Griffons from
Collège de l'Outaouais. With starting setter Katee
Luecke and right-side hitter Stephanie McGuinty not
available to play, new setter Véronique Beaudry got a chance
to run the CAPS offence. After a close first set loss, the 18U
CAPS found their game and fought their way to a comfortable four set
victory behind the play of power hitter Erin O'Doherty and
middle Jessica Zéroual. Next up were Les Idéals du
Collège André-Laurendeau, who always seem to have good,
competitive teams. Very similar to the match against les
Griffons, the 18U CAPS dropped the first set in this match as well
before rebounding to win again in four.
On Saturday morning, the 18U CAPS faced a
much-improved Algonquin College Thunder team. After
easily winning the first two sets, the 18U CAPS seemed to lose their
focus and allowed the Thunder back into the match by losing the next
two sets. The fifth and deciding game went back and forth until
the Thunder finally prevailed 17-15. With this loss, the 18U
CAPS finished with a record of 2 wins and 1 loss in round robin play
and would face Collège André-Laurendeau in the semis. Unlike
their round robin play match against Les Idéals, the 18U CAPS played
some inspired volleyball for the entire match and handled their
opponents from Montreal in three straight sets.
In the final on Sunday morning, the 18U
CAPS were matched up against their neighbours from Gatineau, les
Griffons, who had defeated Algonquin College in four sets in the other
semi-final. The final took on a tone strangely similar to the
round robin match between these two teams. After a long, close
first set won by Les Griffons, the 18U CAPS buckled down and quickly
took over the match, led by setter Katee Luecke and the team's
highly-developed passing, blocking and hitting skills. After
sweeping the next three sets, the 18U CAPS had won their first gold
medal of the 2006-2007 season.
"Considering we were coming off tryouts
and only two weeks of practice, our performance at this tournament was
pretty good", stated Head Coach Cathy O'Doherty. "We were
able to play all of our girls lots - hopefully this experience will be
something that they can learn from and build upon as we progress
through the rest of our season."
Next up for the 18U CAPS is the 18U
Omnium du Québec in Vaudreuil, QC on Saturday, November 11th,
2006. The 18U CAPS will attempt to make it three seasons in a
row of taking home at least one gold medal from the Omniums in La
belle province.
