Mavs Add National Crowns
Before this year, the Mavericks had never won a national volleyball title. Now, the east end-based club that has grown to attract players from across the city has three in total thanks to triumphs by its girls’ 15U Ambush and boys’ 16U Longhorns in Moncton, N.B. May 8-10.
For the Longhorns, it was a great time to play their best volleyball of the year after a season where they rarely cracked the top tier at tournaments and were eliminated in the round of 16 at the provincial championships.
“I’m still in disbelief,” says coach François St-Denis, who teaches at Louis Riel high school. “It was a great group of guys, but throughout the year we ended up being on the wrong side of the fence, so to speak. They really came through in this tournament.”
The Canadian East championships (separate east and west tournaments are held prior to the 17U level) provided a contrast to the rest of the season as the Longhorns wound up on the happy side of several tough battles en route to nine victories.
“It was like they fixed all their problems at the same time,” St-Denis explains. “I saw a group that was very tight and believed in themselves this weekend. The guys executed phenomenally well.”
Béatrice-Desloges student Bruno Lortie was named MVP and was selected to the tournament all-star team along with Patrick Goulet and Patrick Roy following their 26-24, 25-19 win over Scarborough’s Crush in the gold medal game, but the Longhorns had little time to savour the moment. Two courts over, the Mavericks 15U Ambush girls were still battling for their championship.
The Ambush cruised through the competition’s first eight matches – 21points were the most an opponent scored against the Mavs in any given set – but the Durham Attack Black were giving them plenty of trouble in the final.
The teams had split the first two sets with 26-24 scores, and the Mavericks trailed the deciding frame 6-1. But that was just about the exact moment the Longhorns arrived and unfurled their championship banner court-side.
“We were down a couple of points and then the boys came with their banner and it gave us that little boost because we wanted to do the same,” recounts 15U girls’ tournament MVP VĂ©ronique Caya, who was joined by Samuel-Genest high school student Vanessa Hanrahan, and Garneau’s Nathalie Drouin as all-stars. “They started cheering us on and from there it went better and better.”
…The 15U and 16U titles came on the heels of the Mavericks’ 18U boys victory on May 3 in Ottawa.
Get the full story from Dan Plouffe, EastOttawa.ca
