OVA News

The Mavericks volleyball club is gearing up for provincial championships season starting this weekend with the 18U and 15U events where the club’s two strongest hopes for a title will take to the court at RIM Park in Kitchener-Waterloo.

The 15U girls’ team is seeded first heading into the tournament, while the 18U boys are ranked second.

“It seems like it’s just starting,” says 18U coach Jeff Mooney, whose team has attended 11 tournaments this season and won gold in its first four Ontario Volleyball competitions. “Even though we’ve been going since September, nothing’s really happened until we get to where we play provincials.”

“18U is a tough division,” notes Mooney, who expects challenges from Toronto-area, London and Hamilton clubs. “If any team one-through-four wins, nobody will be shocked.”
But Mooney says his Mavericks have a strong chance of being the champions.

The same goes for John Spack’s 15U girls, who have medalled in every OVA event they’ve entered at the 15U level. That’s only once been a gold medal, but they’ve still earned the top ranking since the losses they’ve suffered in finals have been against teams they’d beaten at other times.

“Going into provincials as the No. 1 seed in the province speaks for itself,” says Spack, whose team will also enter the 17U championships ranked seventh. “We got it for a reason – we’re the most consistent team in the province.”

Get the full story, Dan Plouffe, EastOttawa.ca

ONTARIO CHAMPIONSHIPS 2009
WHEN:
April 11-13, 2009 – 15U/18U Boys and Girls
April 17-19, 2009 – 17U Boys and Girls
April 24-26, 2009 – 14U/16U Boys and Girls

WHERE: RIM Park Sportsplex, 2001 University Ave., Waterloo Ontario

TIME: Three (3) days of competition starting at 8AM each day.

For more information or to follow your team online