January 20, 2007 - Things didn't bode well from the start for our 17U National Capitals girls at the OVA 17U Girls Challenge Cup/Tier 1 in Cambridge.  The ranks were dangerously depleted as Emily and Becky were ill, Colleen and Gabby couldn't come and Hayley's back was too tender to risk.  All of a sudden we were down to seven!  But wait - Kalyn Mostert from the 18U squad kindly consented to rejoin many of her former teammates.  Hooray for Kal!

It was a hairy, scary, snowy, blowy beginning for an already anxious bunch of travelers as we set out over the slippery, treacherous roads south of Ottawa on Friday.  Once past Brockville, the weather cleared and thankfully we had an uneventful trip to our various billets in and around Toronto.

It was a chilly but sunny drive to Jacob Hespeler Secondary School on Saturday morning for our initial match at 10:15 and our eager eight were looking forward to their first match of the day.

1st match/Durham Attack Black 17s:  Pinpoint serves and powerhouse hits drove the CAPS to an impressive 25-9 victory in the premier game.  Confidence was sky-high at the onset of the second game but the Attack exploited a weakness in the middle and tipped to their advantage.  However, the sheer power and determination of our girls proved to be the difference as they pulled out a second win, 25-21.

There is a certain bonus in having only eight players in that everyone gets to play - lots.  Coach Matt utilized everyone in pre-assigned positions and no one sat for very long.

2nd Match/A second dose of Durham Attack Black - this time the 16s:  This match was hard-fought and the winners would indeed be well-deserved.  The CAPS had to be especially strong in all aspects of their game against a tall and talented 16U team.  Despite a disputed line call on the potential game-winning serve (Ian still disagrees with Brian about that one) our girls won anyway, 25-22 in the first.  In the next game, the CAPS came out surprisingly flat and before you knew it they were down by 10 points early.  But these girls are scrappers and they came back to within 3. However a couple of missed serves and relentless pressure from Attack resulted in a 20-25 loss.  Game 3 was the tightest, most intense game so far. The CAPS had their chances but ultimately lost a nail-biter, 13-15.

Having finished second in the pool of three, the girls now faced the 'Mac’ team from Hamilton in the first round of playoffs.  Unfortunately, some missed serves and the absence of that killer instinct saw the CAPS playing too defensively near the end of the game and they lost 22-25.  Game two saw a welcome turnaround.  Great pickups, steady passing from the back row and some thunderous rocket-bombs from Kalyn and Annie led to a decisive 25-19 victory.  Once more to a third game, and once more we saw the return of those defensive lapses and missed hits which proved so costly and the CAPS fell 9-15.

Disheartened, the girls had a long break to relax and plot strategy.  Now it was a battle for 9th place or, <shudder>, relegation to Tier II.  How badly did the CAPS want to win this rematch with the Durham Attack Black 17s?  Let's get this party started!

1st game: Up and down, falling behind, catching up, game point for Durham at 22-24, the girls pull even, it's 25-25, Kalyn is smacking the stuffing out of that ball, tips are being covered and - victory at 27-25!  Whew!

2nd game: More of the same, point-for-point, see-saw, see-saw, 22s to 23s to 24s - and then - and then - we're staying in Tier I!  What a relief.

All in all, it wasn't a stellar effort, but the girls can keep their heads held high as they battled through adversity and unfamiliar configurations to maintain their rightful place in the top division.

Thanks, as always, to Matt and Jess for your patience and guidance.  To the parents, Claude (hope you're feeling better), Diane, Ian, Carol, Tony and Brian (and grandparent, Theo):  thanks for transporting our girls safely and for your ringing support (and yummy snacks).  And special thanks to Kalyn for your awesome play.