The Warren Wildcats junior varsity girls volleyball team clawed their way to their second straight A/AA Provincial Championship over the weekend at Immanuel Christian School in Winnipeg.
Coached by Andrea Schutz and led by a strong group of grade 10 girls with two grade nines as well, the Wildcats had to battle for every single point to come out victorious again.
On Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats found themselves in the championship against the top ranked Gabrielle-Roy Les Roys.
After splitting the first two sets, the Wildcats pieced together one final push for glory and came out on top 15-9 in the third set to bring another banner back to Warren.
“It’s a real testament of this group and the skill,” said Schutz on Monday. “This group of girls was an exceptional group, very very talented on the court. All of them play club volleyball and spend probably 10 to 11 months of the year on a volleyball court of some kind so knowing they could do it, I’m just very proud of them and what they were able to accomplish two years in a row.”
The win against Gabrielle-Roy came after a three game round robin and two playoff victories that kept the Wildcats tested all the way.
Their tournament opened on Friday with a round robin loss to Gabrielle-Roy that gave them an idea of the work that lied ahead if they wanted to reach the championship.
After the loss, the Wildcats followed it up with two straight set victories over the Gilbert Plains Trojans and Wawanesa Warriors to earn them second in Pool 1 and bye in round one of the playoffs.
Their next scare didn’t come until a semi-final rematch with the Trojans that went to a third set after splitting the opening two.
That’s when a few on court adjustments and a sudden spurt of dominance from the Wildcats top line took over and the Wildcats stormed out to a 15-8 victory in the final set.
“It came down to those six girls who were on the court,” said Schutz. “I tried to get all of them on in the semi game and almost all in the final but just going back to basics, making sure that our serves were over, and communication was a huge piece for us. We’ve been pushing to communicate better in the ladder half of the season and they really came together. Communication was the best in the semi-final game but when it came down to it, it was getting back to what we do well which is kills, finding holes, shaking things up, and trying not to do the same things over and over to capture the other team off guard.”
In the final game against Gabrielle-Roy, the Wildcats top line continued the same level of dominance they had shown in the clutch semi-final victory.
Setter Julia Oliver and power hitters Mya Richard and Paige Seidel became nearly unstoppable in the finals as the Wildcats went on to provincial glory.
Following the tournament, Richard and Seidel were both named tournament all-stars while Oliver went on to receive most valuable player of the tournament honours.
“Julia was fabulous,” said Schutz. “She is an amazing setter, she can put a ball into play that you think is completely out of play, she 100 percent deserved the MVP award. Just her ability to push the ball out to the hitters and then also she’s very good at faking out the other team and catches them off guard nine times out of 10. She knows her position so well and was essential to our win on Saturday. Paige and Mya as well, they were both very crucial hitters on the court all weekend.”
The trio, along with the seven other grade 10’s on the Wildcats will now all move out of the junior varsity level following the school year and will likely be huge pieces for the future of the Wildcats varsity girls team.
Meanwhile, the Wildcats have two grade nines eligible to return from this year’s team, along with a strong group of other grade nines going into grade 10 next year that played on the Schutz’s developmental team this season.
With Schutz planning to return, the Wildcats will hope to make it three in a row next season and cement themselves as a dynasty.
Tribune Photo by Lana Meier
