First IC Gold for 16U Girls
Nov. 9th, 2011

Interclub captured its first gold medal of the season when the 16U girls came out strong to top the competition at a Markham Stingers invitational tournament last Saturday.

The girls entered the tournament seeded first, and defended that ranking early with an 8:30 a.m. match against the Markham Stingers Gold, from whom they took both sets, 25-10 and 25-15 respectively.

IC faced the Toronto Diamonds next, who – though having dropped their first two sets to the Scarborough Titans Shock – proved to be a challenge for the team. While the girls won the first set comfortably (25-13), they ran into passing troubles and forfeited numerous points on unforced errors. IC split with the Diamonds after losing the second set 21-25.

By the last round of pool play, the girls had secured at least a second place finish in their pool with a 3-1 record to start the day. However, their opponents – the Titans – were a flawless 4-0. To make the top tier of the playoffs, IC would have to rally to take both sets from the undefeated Titans. Surrendering fewer points on errors and passing better than their previous matches, the girls did just that. They took two of two, 25-18 and 25-21, finishing round robin play with a first-place record of 5-1.

In the first round of playoffs (semi-finals), the girls were paired with Oakville Thunder 15U Blue. Though the young team entered the tournament seeded last of 16 teams, the Thunder placed first in their pool. Interclub, however, took two straight to secure a spot in the gold medal game.

The team met DRVC 15U in the finals, who – though again a younger team – were the only other squad to finish round robin with a 5-1 record. With their confidence and offensive presence, they proved to be the toughest competitors of the day by far. Passing woes and unforced errors continued to haunt a tired IC team throughout the first set, which they dropped to DRVC. However, the girls bounced back in the second set and, with a few notable serving streaks, evened things up at one apiece, forcing a third and deciding set.

But early in that last set, the silver medal seemed to be a more realistic outcome for the girls. IC was down 8-3 when the teams switched sides, with no momentum their way. But after a collection of missed serves and shanked passes by DRVC, and a series of hot servers and kills for Interclub, the score was even at 13-13. The team won the next rally, bringing the match to championship point.

A questionable set left uncalled set up the next point for DRVC. It was 14-14. Nevertheless, the girls won the next point, taking the game to the second match point. Right off the serve, DRVC passed up to another questionable set, except this time the referee called a lift, giving Interclub the victory – and the gold – at 16-14.

Coach Steve Willis and I are extremely proud of the girls for their victory on the weekend. Technically, our serving was excellent and played a crucial role in taking us all the way through the final. We were happy to see some of our girls step up on game day to face the pressure and outperform our expectations. This depth left us hard pressed to decide on a consistent starting lineup, and there’s still plenty of competition for starting spots. We hope this weekend’s victory will result in stronger team unity and more intensity in practice.

The tournament also gave us some insight into the team’s next steps. We were our worst enemy on Saturday, forfeiting countless points on unforced errors. Our serve receive passing wasn’t as strong as we’d hoped and the consistency of play could have also been better.

With the team’s first OVA tournament just a week away, we hope to address some of these issues to dive into the season an even stronger team, and, we hope, repeat our performance. If the gold medal says anything, it’s that the 16U girls have the potential for a great season filled with many more accomplishments.

Luc Rinaldi