The 18U womens volleyball team competed in Abbotsord, BC from May 13-15.
The tournament included 230 male and female teams from across the country converged and played in the 17U/18U categories. All the best teams from across the country were there and the competition and skill level was unbelievable.
There were scouts from every major CIS university and many other colleges as well, said Selects coach Brent Brown.
The teams are divided by age categories and then again by a seeding system that placed teams from the different provinces into divisions based on their placing at the various provincials championships that were held.
This attempt to put teams of the same calibre in the same division but this is extremely difficult as each province establishes their seeding system differently.
The McSweeney's Selects team had an outstanding weekend playing in Division II. Friday they started out strongly by going 3-0 in their matches beating teams from NS, AB and BC.
Day II brought about a repool and the day was met with a little adversity as the team went 1-2.
Again they ended up playing teams from NS, AB and BC. The competition was stronger on the Saturday and the team had trouble finishing points off. The schedule worked against the team for the Sunday schedule as they played a late game Saturday and then an early Sunday game with only 10 hours off between games.
"Sunday games are do or die as you lose and you are out," says Brown.
The team came out strong and pulled off a huge victory to keep their tournament alive. They then went up against a higher ranked BC team and again played solid with lots of great hitting pulling out the victory in straight sets.
The semi-finals were against another NS team and it was a real battle. Nerves got the best of the girls and they played a poor opening set. The second set started the same as the first until very near the end of the set. Being down 19-9 in the second set, the comeback began.
It ended up being a thrilling finish but unfortunately the team came out on the losing end 28-26. It was the end of a great weekend of tournament play but they went out playing extremely well, a good way to finish off their club volleyball career.
All weekend, the girls battled back from deficits and that is a true test to their character and their never give up attitude.
"This team was a joy to coach. They battled all the time. They got along great together and when push came to shove, they were a true definition of a team as it didnt matter what was asked of them, if it was going to help our team they were their wanting to contribute" says Brown.
"On behalf of the girls, all our parents, I would like to thank all of our sponsors who helped to make this such an enyoyable experience for all the team. We hosted a few tournaments this year and always had parents and players alike helping out. We had some great corporate sponsors who helped out with donations or giving us product at a reduced rate. It is only through all this extra work that the girls are able to experience Nationals and all the memories that come along with it. A big thank you goes out to Harvest Meats, LDM Foods, City of Yorkton, Painted Hand Development Corporation and Crystal Clear Imprints as they were instrumental in helping this team to go to Nationals in Abbotsford as well as the younger 15u team being able to compete in the Westerns in Calgary this coming up long weekend" adds Brown.
-Submitted
