Boys 18U Black
The season has begun and it’s off to a great start. The U18 team traveled to Niagara College and collected a silver medal. Pool play went well as they defeated Kinston Pegasus 25-23, 25-14, 17-25…as well as the Guelph Grizzlies 25-8, 25-19, 25-21.
Going into the playoff round as the number one seed in their pool, they defeated the Barrie Elites 25-23 and 25-14. The next game was the gold medal match…The games were close and their opponent, Ottawa ’s Maverick Desperados, were victorious with scores of 24-26 and 22-25. The team had much down time with matches hours apart…As the players progress through the season…this becomes another part of tournament play to overcome. Rallies were exciting as the boys hit the floor, rolled after getting the ball up and celebrated the hits and blocks…The team was definitely happy to be playing volleyball.
Special thanks to the coaches Duncan Cairns and assistant Reid…in addition to the parents and pets who made the trip.
We look forward to the next go-round in January!
J. Crane
18U Boys Black
On Saturday, the team traveled to Scarborough to play. It was great traveling the 401 with clear roads…and as most people know there isn’t much traffic at 6:30 on the weekend.
Pool play started with a match against MAC…It was a slow start for the guys…with scores…12-25 and 18-25. They knew they could do better and they did. The next opponent was the Ottawa Mavericks. The team got ahead and stayed ahead…with wins of 25-20 and 25-23. The guys had woken up and were hitting and blocking well. The next match…after lunch was against Pakmen…They continued their solid play with a 25-21 win in the first game…good hits and big blocks were abundant…even climbing the screen between the various courts was tossed in for good measure. It was a close 25-27 loss in the second and a tight 13-15 loss in the last game. This was disappointing…as a win would have meant that the Tigers could have finished first in their pool play. This was not to be. There it was…2 teams with 2 wins, 2 teams with 1 win…The Tigers finished behind the Mavericks, MAC and Pakmen.
Onto the playoffs where the team was up against the number one seed Crush. There was a lot of hitting…blocking …and blocking and hitting…The first game was close… 20-25…and the second game wasn’t. The team couldn’t get the rhythm back. They had to sit a bit to see who their next opponent was…and it was MAC…again … on the same court as their match that morning. The play was fast and inspiring…as the team was playing to stay in top division…There were some great rallies…and great efforts, but the scores were 19-25 and 23-25. The team has seen that they can compete in this division…but have a few things on the list to improve for the next time they meet…in late February.
Thanks to coach Duncan for his efforts on Saturday and the parents and friends for their support and cheers during the games.
J.Crane
U18 Boys Black Brings Home the GOLD…
Saturday, Feb 6 at Bowmanville the U18 played the Bugarski Cup. This was a tournament of many tales…
…of never ending schedule changes…first place and time and schedules
…who knew Bowmanville was only one hour thirty minutes away so early in the morning?
…6 team schedules really give strange combinations of game times…one after another after another…
…and finally…they say sometimes you have to lose…in order to learn how to win…so that’s what the team did…
Pool play…Seeded number one in our pool, the Tigers met Sudbury first…It was a couple of games of broken plays, and unfinished plays, and sadly…too few points… 14-25 and 21-15 gave us a rough start. The players used the time off as the other 2 teams in the pool played…to discuss…to fuel up and try to focus for the rest of the matches. Next up was the Guelph Grizzlies…and it started like the earlier match…missed assignments and serves…and not enough points. We fell 15-25. It was time to pick ourselves up and get a fast start and we did… Serves, back row hits and longer rallies got us back in the game and a win 25-22. The fast paced third game kept the same feeling and we won 15-13.
Playoffs…With six teams..and finishing second in our pool…we played Guelph again…with little time in between. The play was elevated again as the serves got better…the blocks were there again and again as the front row was on fire!!! Even in the second game we saw middles set, and you could tell the momentum was building and the confidence was high. 25-13 and 25-16 allowed the team to go to the next match…number 3, if you are counting. This time it was up against the Riverside Rage (number 1 from the other pool) This was the match to return to tier 1, and the players dearly wanted that experience again. Well the team did not disappoint. Play was impressive as the players did many things to prevent the ball from hitting the floor. Communication between the front row and the back row..between the setter, libero and the hitters, and play was impressive.…This was the play that we had hoped to see. The guys were smiling, intense and very focused….and yet…every timeout and between games, the players quickly snacked to refuel. They would need more energy for the final match…Riverside was defeated 25-21 and 25-16.
The opponent for the gold medal was MAC17. We wanted to see the same play and intensity as the previous match. The hits got more powerful and numerous, and the rallies got longer as the net play was intense with blocks and recoveries behind the blocks. The focus was still there. The energy was there…they were not going to be defeated. With scores 25-14 and 25-19, the Tigers claimed the GOLD medal.
Many thanks to Darren for filling in for coach Duncan. Everyone appreciated your time and energy with the team for the day.
J. Crane
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