April 21-22, 2007 - The OVA 18U Ontario Championships/Tier 1 were hosted on April 21st and 22nd in Ottawa at Lansdowne Park's Aberdeen Pavilion by Team Ottawa, under the leadership of the National Capitals Volleyball Club.  This tournament brought the top 16 teams in the province together to compete for gold.  Unique in many respects, this Ottawa tournament allowed teams from other areas to visit Ottawa and enjoy a beautiful weekend in the Capital.

This event was significant for the 18U team, as it was the last Ontario Volleyball Association tournament for most of the girls.  The majority will be moving on to university in September.

The 18U CAPS began the tournament on Saturday morning with pool play.  Their first opponent was Georgian Bay Vista from Midland.  Our girls won a close series 26-24 and 25-23.  In their second match, they won another close contest against the Oakville Thunder, 25-23 and 26-24.  The final pool match was against DRVC 17U from Whitby and, once again, the National Capitals were victorious in a tight match 26-24 and 25-21.  In their quest to win gold, the girls had accomplished their first objective: which was to win their pool.

In late afternoon, the girls immediately moved to the playoff round with a crossover match against the Kangaroos, also from Ottawa.  With reaching the semi-finals as the next objective, the girls rose to the occasion in their first playoff match and defeated the Kangaroos 25-13 and 25-7.  With a good days work behind them, the girls left to attend the tournament banquet and to enjoy a good social evening with their teammates.

Sunday morning, the girls approached the quarter-finals with enthusiasm.  Their opponent was the Vipers from Toronto and the CAPS emerged victorious by two identical scores of 25-21.  They then moved on to their semi-final match against DRVC 18U from Whitby.  Throughout this season the National Capitals and DRVC had played against each other several times in very spirited and exciting matches, sometimes winning and sometimes losing.  So this semi-final match was a fitting challenge for both teams in their quest for gold.  Both teams rose to the challenge, with DRVC coming out on top, by scores of 23-25 and 21-25.  DRVC then leveraged that win - and the momentum gained -  to move to the finals and eventually win gold.

The CAPS, displaying the resiliency that they've displayed all year long, bounced back in the bronze medal match against Waterloo Tigers Black.  The Tigers are another great team against whom the National Capitals had competed many times all season long.  This time, however, our girls emerged victorious to win in straight sets, 25-21 and 25-16, and captured the bronze.

Volleyball is the quintessential team sport.  In order to win, all team members must play together as a cohesive unit.  This well-coached, and very close team, displayed their team work and sportsmanship all weekend.  All players contributed.  Noteworthy were an injured Steph McGuinty, encouraging her team mates from the bench, Erin O'Doherty, flying through the air to hit the ball, the enthusiasm of Claudia Seguin, the consistency of Chantelle L'Heureux, the amazing serves of Véronique Beaudry, the great blocks of Kalyn Mostert, and the often spectacular digs of Sarah Fetterly.  Jessica Zéroual was named a Tournament All Star and Katee Luecke was awarded OVA Award of Excellence for the 18U CAPS.

Fresh from the success of Provincials, the girls will be at 18U Nationals in Abbotsford, British Columbia, from May 4th through 6th competing, once again, for gold.