November 18, 2006 - It was a smooth, fast trip to Cambridge, 5 hours or so (in spite of what Google Maps had indicated), with some of us arriving early enough for dinner and a movie, and one of us arriving in the wee hours of the morning (how was that hockey game?).  Sleep was difficult to achieve with noisy hockey players running wildly about, but enough rest was had for our bright-eyed girls and their parents to appear for a continental breakfast early Saturday morning, before a quick jaunt to the OVA 18U Girls McGregor Cup/Tier 2.

The National Capitals 17U girls stormed to an early 13-1 lead against the 4th-ranked Brant Tornadoes, and cruised to a 25-3 victory in their first game of the day. Lise and Diane set the bells to ringing after each good play for the CAPS which meant that they rang loudly and often, even during the slightly more ragged second set, which still ended in a 25-19 win.

The next match was against the 5th-ranked Impact from Georgetown .  Strong serves and lovely kills got things rolling.  Solid blocking on the part of the CAPS and some mistakes on the part of the other team saw the two teams very close at 14-15 when the first timeout was called.  One of the nig CAPS blocks was for Ulrike's benefit, in retaliation for being clocked in the head by the opposing team while sitting innocently on the sidelines. Deadly accurate serves and some monster hits followed, leading the CAPS to a 25-14 win.  The girls came out strongly in set two - nine straight points being accumulated on first service.  At midway, however, things became a bit shaky, with missed opportunities (especially on plays at the net) bringing the score to a 22-22 deadlock.  "Come on CAPS, stop playing with them" was Ian's admonition from the sidelines. The girls must have heard as they rebounded and, with a setter kill, put a double punctuation on the match to take the set 25-22.

A long, long break followed which gave everyone time to eat (and/or sleep, as needed) and to watch some of the other teams play while the moms and dads read, knit, wrote this story, etc.

Third-ranked Barrie Elites came in second in their pool, so they were the team to meet 'n beat in the first round of playoffs.  These girls were much bigger than any of the other girls we had seen so far and eager to compete.  The CAPS got off to a bit of a wobbly start, 5-10, with very uneven play.  The biggest problem seemed to be anticipating tips from the opposition (a very tippy game on both sides) however, with some stellar digging and passing, and with solid blocking thrown in, the gap began to close.  A final burst of energetic determination delivered the girls a 26-24 victory.

The second set would prove to be just as hard-fought and intense. Even though the play didn't always go the way the girls planned, they continued to show great support for each other.  After several errant balls were hit into the net, the service started to come back and the blocks and hits got stronger, taking the score to 17-14.  Good blocking on the part of the Elites and gaps that were again left uncovered by the CAPS kept the score tight.  "Right now ladies, right now" was the call from the floor. A couple of well-earned points (boy, do those 'quicks' look great when they work!) and Matt was breathing a big sigh of relief as the girls finished up 29-27.

Well, well, what do you know?  Two 17U Ottawa teams drive all the way to Cambridge to meet in the semi-finals of the 18U McGregor Cup.  Lise, Ian and Ulrike were in the bathroom attending to Karin, who had suffered an unfortunate pre-game smack to the nose, so we missed the beginning of the first set against the  Mavericks BlackJacks (ranked 6th).  Apparently the score was knotted at 'ones' before the CAPS pulled ahead to a convincing lead of 17-7. Some pretty left side hits combined with steady service resulted in a convincing 25-11 win.

A beautiful kill started the second set, but then three points were lost in quick succession.  In spite of some kooky, off-balance play on our side and some missed chances by the opposition, the see-saw ride continued as the girls seemed unable to gain the upper hand.  Tension was high all around until a missed serve by the Mavs and a couple of powerful kills by the CAPS terminated the match, 28-26.

And so, it was on to the gold medal round (what a good feeling to be able to say that) against the 8th-ranked Burlington Blaze.  It wasn't an auspicious beginning.  Errors left the CAPS at 4-7 at the first timeout and 8-14 at the second.  A couple of good serves and kills brought things closer but a lack of consistency proved to be the girls' downfall for the first defeat of the day: 19-25.  "Come on, sweeties" encouraged Lise as the girls switched ends.  The girls just couldn't get themselves together as an agonizing point-for-point pattern of  play developed and, though the CAPS fought hard, they couldn't muster the will to pull out the victory.  The final score was 20-25.  But hey, a silver medal and the promotion to Tier 1 were sweet rewards for a very fine performance.

Many thanks again to the parents who seem to be driving further with each tournament (Windsor is our next stop for the OVA 17U Girls McGregor Cup/Tier 1) and many, many thanks to coaches Matt and Jess for all the time they give and the incentive to make our daughters better players.