14U Girls Red
 

Roster
 

Andrea Alvarez
Rijja Baig
Sydney Bowden
Kirsten Dlugokecki
Tina Do
Marissa Grubb
Monica Januszek
Shianna McIver
Kelsey Neumann
Lisette Ruiz

Girls 14U(95) Tigers Red Win Bronze Medal
 

Congratulations girls on winning your very first OVA medal in the Trillium division in Stratford.

We played in the brand new Agriplex – four noisy courts side-by-side – and it took a couple of matches to adjust to these unfamiliar (but very nice) surroundings. The referee very unfairly forced us to play our first match (against West Elgin) with only a four-minute warm-up – not even volleying allowed – against a team that had just played. We put out a strong line-up but, not surprisingly, got hammered 25-15. Set two was no better. Nothing worked.

Our second match was against #1 seed Waterdown and they dispatched us even faster. We were quickly overwhelmed in a match dominated by serving. One of their players ran 12 aces against us – we couldn’t hit and they couldn’t miss! By noon hour our parents were ready to hang the coaches from the yardarm and our prospects for the day looked bleak to say the least.

Things started to change in our first playoff match and we defeated Forest City Green 2-0 (25-22, 25-15). Although this London team was very good and second in their pool, they were younger (13U) and not as powerful. That gave us a chance to regroup and regain our confidence, which is so important at this age.

We next played our Tigers 13U team. They were having a great day and were first in their pool, playing extremely well. But finishing first means you get a bye in the first playoff round and by the time we met, they had sat out for 2 1/2 hours and we had just played. We were finally warmed up and they were cold. Our servers, led by Kirsten Dlugokecki and Monica Januszek had by now found their range and led us to victory by scores of 25-16 and 25-14. The long layoff really hurt the 13U team and they struggled to regain their earlier form. They were quite disappointed but quickly recovered to win their last match against a tough Brantford squad and finished 5th (out of 12) overall, with just one loss. This was a great accomplishment for them to do so well playing up in an older division. Well done girls. Terry and Airianna should be very proud of what they accomplished.

In the semi-finals we had a rematch with Waterdown and this time gave them a real battle. They won a hard-fought set one 25-18. We came from behind to edge them 25-23 in set two, but lost the third set 15-9 after taking a 6-1 lead. They tied it at 6-6 with strong serving and we sagged a little and could not recover. Full credit to Waterdown (who won the gold) and we wish them the best as they (and Sarnia) move up to the Championship division.

We next played South County for the bronze medal. Although this was our sixth match without a break, we were by now playing very well and were full of confidence. We won set one 25-15 but then lost set two (16-25) against a completely different South County line-up (they changed all 6 players!). In the tie-breaker, Kirsten got us off to a 4-1 lead with her strong serving and after a huge stuff-block by Marissa Grubb and a couple of hard hits by Kirsten, we never looked back. After the excitement died down, everyone realized that finishing third out of 12 after finishing last in our pool was a great comeback. We showed what we’re capable of, we know what we have to work on – read that as service reception – and must not forget that when things go very wrong (as they often do at this age) you cannot give up on yourself or each other. We didn’t and the hard work at practice last week paid off when Lady Luck finally shone in our favour. That and some great defence led by Kelsey Neumann and Sydney Bowden.

As coaches we are proud of what happened on Saturday and hope we can use this confidence-builder to inspire everyone to try their best to improve. If we can talk and cheer a little more, serve and pass serves a little better, and make fewer silly mistakes, we can only get better as a team and really have fun playing this great game.

Leeza and John
 

13URed Girls Capture Hawkins Cup Silver Medal
 

For the second time in three weeks, the 14U Girls Red team won a medal – this time taking second place in the Hawkins Cup on February 21st at Forest Heights.

This was a tournament named after the late Gord Hawkins who made a huge contribution to youth volleyball in Kingston and eastern Ontario (OVA Region 6).

The Tigers began the day with a 2-1 loss to the K-W Predators Black (25-23, 20-25, 5-15). Everyone was nervous at this first-ever meeting of cross-town rivals and play was cautious. In the end, the Predators prevailed with better defence and serving and they dug up most of our best hits. Kirsten Dlugokecki served five serving aces.

 Naturally we were disappointed at the outcome, but the day was just beginning.

Next we faced the Spiking Sharks and defeated them 2-0. This was a very young team with athletes from grades 5 through 8. Strong deep serving by Tina Do and solid hitting by Lisette Ruiz and Andrea Alvarez sealed their fate.

Our last match in pool play was against the #1 seed, Woodstock – also a young short team, but very experienced and coming down from Tier I. We needed to beat them 2-0 in order to claim first place and did just that. After trailing most of set one, the team surged at the end and stole it from them 28-26 in a real nail-biter. We won set two with a score of 25-20 to complete the upset.  Highlights in this great win were 6 serving aces by Kirsten and strong defence by Kelsey Neumann and Sydney Bowden who dug up their many middle attacks.

In the quarter-finals, we once again played our 13U team – a rematch from the last tournament. Despite injuries, the younger Tigers were bent on revenge and nearly won the first set. Trailing by as much as seven points, we came back to win 25-21 and then took the second set 25-17. Sydney scored 4 serving aces and Rijja Baig got two. This was a tough match and the 13U team played very well. They recently won gold in their own age division and are improving rapidly.

We next met MAC in the semi-finals and had the unenviable task of trying to stop one of the best hitters in the OVA. Set one was very close – their big hitter and our defence. Trailing 20-23, we got huge serving from Sydney who served out the set with 3 aces. MAC won the second set 25-23 and that set the stage for the 15-point showdown. Our strategy was simple. We knew their big player would be their first server and she was devastating (between serving and hitting she had scored ¾ of all her teams earned points against us). Our Kirsten was to serve first and hopefully could get us a 3- to 4-point lead. We then had to hold their player to no more than 5 or 6 points and when we got the ball back, no one was to serve out. That would keep MAC’s player in the back row for most of the set and hopefully not have time to serve a second time. That’s exactly what happened and we won a thriller 15-9. This was our biggest win of the year and a great team effort.

The final was anti-climactic as we faced Woodstock in a rematch from earlier in the day. This time our opponent prevailed rather easily, winning 25-15 and 25-11. They came out tipping and we could not stop them. This was very demoralizing and we quickly collapsed from morale and fatigue
(we had played 14 sets by now).

Nonetheless, silver was a great accomplishment and the coaches and parents were very happy. We were the only team to beat Woodstock on the day and gained a great deal of experience and confidence. We learned that to move up the ranks, we must have better movement on defence and be able to pass more of the hard serves. Better setting will happen when we specialize the position sometime soon. We do a lot of things quite well (serving and hitting) and have managed to become one of the better 14U teams in the OVA this year.

Our next, and last, tournament before Provincials is on March 28th at Cameron Heights in Kitchener.

TIGERS RED 14U GIRLS FINISH 9th
 

The Tigers 14U Red team finished 9th at the Ontario Open Trillium division played March 28th at Cameron Heights. This greatly-anticipated 12-team tournament featured no less than three Tigers and three Predators teams. Somehow we managed to avoid playing all of them and finished a respectable 2-2 on the day.
Our first match was against a 13U team from Sarnia and we won 2-straight (25-13, 25-10) behind the solid play of Monica and Andrea, and Tina’s serving. We next played South County whom we defeated for the bronze medal six weeks ago in Stratford. This match was for first place in the pool. South County captured the first set 25-20, pulling away on serving when the score was 19-19. Set two was a cliff hanger and South County outlasted us 29-27 in a heartbreaker. We played very well but lost to a strong opponent. We had game serve on them three times.

The next match was the most important one of the day (as it turned out). We crossed over with Stratford Gold in the pre-quarter finals – an unusually strong opponent this early in the playoffs. We were really up for the match and came out strong with a 25-13 win in set one. The score was close until first Sydney and then Kirsten destroyed them with their tough serves. The coaches knew that set two would be tougher (Stratford teams never give up) and sure enough, they came back and took us 25-22. The big difference this time was we served out six times, including our first three attempts. That allowed Stratford to take an early lead and recover mentally. They never looked back. Set three was a repeat with us again missing our first two serves and falling way behind. We rallied at the end, serving five straight points but were too far behind and lost the set 15-9. Although Stratford played well, we clearly gave them the opportunity to win by serving out so often. We could never get any momentum going. Aside from serving, we played well enough to win. Monica and Andrea were especially effective hitting.

When you lose in the pre-quarter final, you get only four matches which is not nearly enough (should be 5 or 6 minimum). Even worse we played Sarnia again – we were so hoping for a Predators match-up but it was not to be. We defeated Sarnia once more with everyone playing well. Rijja and Hayley had their best games of the day with Lisy getting key blocks, especially on over-bumps. Well done girls!

Coaches Leeza and John felt the team played well on the day but had a couple of mental lapses which were very costly. The schedule was very unfavourable to us and we had by far the hardest cross-over, but that’s the luck of the draw. In the last three tournaments the team has played well and steadily improved. The schedule favoured us when we got the bronze, our silver was solid, and the 9th place finish in no way reflects on team strength. We should have been no worse than 5th. To do better we need more consistent serving, more movement on defence (we’re getting better) and above all, we must be far more vocal – call the ball every time and really cheer the team on whether on or off the court.

It must be pointed out that Tigers Black won the gold medal in a tremendous effort. They won all six of their matches and the highlight was a 2-0 victory over Predators Purple in the semi-final. That was one of the most emotionally charged matches I have ever seen. In the final against South County, they overcame an 11-19 deficit to win set two 25-20 and wrap up the championship. Tigers Black will now move up to Division I for the Provincials and we will be in Division II along with Tigers 13U and all three Predators teams. Should be quite a show.
 

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