March 24, 2007
- On a bright spring Friday, we
travelled to the OVA 18U Girls Open/Tier 1 - an uneventful ride
- some of us blazing through, some stopping along the way for retail
therapy, and others crawling in after midnight. Having enjoyed
the hotel in Niagara Falls so much on a previous visit to St.
Catharines, the decision to stay there again was an easy one.
This time the bulk of the players arrived in time to actually see the
cascading waters by daylight. In the morning we had the treat of
having breakfast against the backdrop of a beautiful sunrise
overlooking the falls, before a short jaunt to Brock
University.
The first match of the day in Pool B saw
the National Capital 17Us overcoming a somewhat shaky start against
Durham Attack Black. The girls employed some really good quicks
and blocks to keep the score close, finishing 19-25 in the first set.
A more confident start to Set 2 was hampered by some inconsistency in
passing that had the opposition winning 16-25.
The next match pitted CAPS 17U against
Georgian Bay Vista, where valiant efforts at the net didn't
prevent a 21-25 victory for the other team. The second set had
the CAPS coming out swinging, but the vulnerable hole in the back left
corner meant that the score was 18-25 in favour of the girls from
Vista.
The first round of playoffs took place
after a very long break, but the 17U CAPS managed to play their most
energetic and inspired match. Wonderful net play and great
support from the back row meant a well-fought set that ended 21-25.
With more of the same strength in the second set, chance stepped
in to help the 18U team from DRVC to
victory.
The quarter-final round was again
against Georgian Bay Vista, with neither team showing much
energy or drive. Very ragged play ensued with some
"interesting" rallies, but the CAPS managed to achieve their first
win of the day (25-14). Yeah!! The second set had a
similar outcome, but by a much closer score of 26-24.
The last match of the day was against the
arch-rival Toronto Vipers, in which the CAPS girls worked hard
for a 25-23 win in the first set, didn't give up in the second (17-25)
and were still evenly matched until the end of the third (11-15), for
an overall outcome of 10th place in this 18U event.
Many thanks to the intrepid drivers,
diehard fans, tireless linesman, dedicated players and (of course)
Matt, who manages to find the time and energy in his increasingly
hectic life to coach our girls.
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