January 19, 2008 - At this time of
year the girls are kinda swamped with school ball, exam study and all
these tournaments, so, in order to get an article up here quick (I
know my daughter too well), I thought I would do a little interview
with my daughter about the tournament held at UofT Scarborough over
the weekend...
OVA 17U Girls Challenge
Cup/Tier 1 - According to
Laura:
So Laura, how was the trip up?
"Well, not completely sure - my narcolepsy took over as
usual (sorry Wendy and Kaleigh), but I had a good time when I was
awake! We went to our 'home away from home' Wendy's, and
then I had the pleasure of listening to a mother/daughter sing-a-long
(Bon Jovi :|)...
Where did the girls stay?
"Half the girls stayed at a family friend of the Carters and
the other half of us stayed at a hotel, along with Matt, Mike and
Jess. We even made a little extra room for Kaleigh at the
hotel..."
First opponent of the day was Georgian Bay Vista -
thoughts?
"Well... first game of the day... we're always a bit
tired, but slowly we broke out of that. Don't remember much,
other than the fact that Becca ENDED the match with a pretty
sick backrow attack from pipe..."
Followed that up with a 3-set rematch loss against Aurora -
did the match have the intensity of the 18U - Tier 2 final from
mid-December?
"I think we started with the same determination as that win,
but Storm had gained back one of their weapon hitters, so the tables
had kind-of turned. It was still an amazing match. We
never let up, and even had a strong win in the second set. We
fought hard in the third, closing the gap to 2 points after we
switched sides, but lost in the end..."
So you came 2nd in your pool - how do you think things went
in the crossover against Attack's 16U team?
"Hmmm, well I think you're always a bit nervous about
playing any Durham team, but we snapped out of that and eventually
took it in two sets. Certainly wasn't our best match of the
day..."
That win assured the CAPS of a Top 8 finish but meant you
would need to beat Forest City's perenially strong team to advance
to the medal round. You hadn't played them in a long time, and
no break after the crossover - how did you feel the quarter-final
went?
"Well this game was kind of disappointing because we hadn't
played them in awhile and we were hoping to give them a better
battle. I don't think we ever really got going in that match
though. Most of the time we were just trying to keep up.
In the end, we lost (which sucked) but I think we learned from that
match that we have to work on our consistency. As Matt
told us - what makes the Top 4 teams different than the rest is
their consistency. So we'll have to keep working on that and
hopefully get them back next time!"
Do you feel Forest City was a better team than you
remember?
"Well, in all honesty, all of the teams have improved so
much in the past year. That's what is so tough about the
tournaments as you get older, everyone is constantly improving and the
teams throw more and more stuff at you. You snooze, you
lose..."
Last match of the day was a battle to decide ties for 5th or
7th, against a new team, Halton Hurricanes. What were the
highlights of that match?
"It was definitely nice to play a new team, although we did
recognize a few of the girls from other teams we'd seen over the
last couple seasons. I guess I must have been pretty tired cuz I
don't remember anything in particular from that match - just
playing with the girls through the fatigue. Sounds weird, but I
think it just makes the girls work harder and better together, as
one. Going home with a win was the goal we had set for the end
of the day, and we succeeded in that:)..."
What were all of you hoping to achieve at this
event?
"I think our main goal was to keep the momentum up after our
gold medal in Kitchener. That tournament was amazing! We
did our best to keep up the intensity, but we were lacking a few
players (miss ya Jor and Robby) and a few of the gals were on the sick
side. Overall, the team played through it and got better as the
day went on, but we definitely never found our groove from Kitchener.
Went in 8th and finished 5th, so we're going in the right
direction..."
Do you have a favourite moment from the weekend?
"Hmmm, well there were probably alot of small ones that I
don't really remember (gotta get my memory capacity checked). As
embarrassing as this is to say, my favourite moments from the weekend
were each time I actually made a good pass (ugh)!"
"Thanks to the parents, to our three fabulous coaches AND to
Mike for driving for a measly hour-and-a-half to see us - its the
thought that counts Mike! Thanks as well to the billets who took
in half the ladies - thank you so much everyone:)"
- Laura #5
Results/OVA 17U Girls
Challenge Cup - Tier 1:
Pool 1: CAPS vs Georgian Bay Vista: W 2-0 (25-22,
25-22)
Pool 2: CAPS vs Aurora Storm Typhoon: L 1-2 (26-28, 25-14,
12-15)
Crossover: CAPS vs Durham Attack Black 16U: W 2-0 (25-20,
25-20)
QF: CAPS vs Forest City: L 0-2 (21-25, 19-25)
5th/7th: CAPS vs. Halton Hurricanes: W 2-0 (25-21,
25-16)
Gold: Durham Attack Black
Silver: Aurora Storm Typhoon
Bronze: Forest City
4th: Kitchener-Waterloo Predators
5th (tie): National Capitals, Pakmen
7th (tie): Peel Selects 91, Halton Hurricanes
9th (tie): Durham Attack 16U, MAC
11th (tie): Georgian Bay Vista, Durham Attack Red
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