With just a toe still on the floor, U17 Raiders’ Kathryn MacKinnon dives to make a dig in Saturday’s nine-team volleyball tournament at Dalbrae.
-by Bill Dunphy
Playing some of the best Tier 1 teams in the Maritimes has shown the U18 Route 19 Raiders Blue that they are right there with them.
The Raiders, along with the U17 Raiders Blue, hosted a nine-team girls volleyball tournament at Dalbrae Academy on the weekend.
The U18 girls were undefeated in round-robin play, beating the Patriots 25-18, 25-15; Scotia Juniors Black 25-21, 25-23; Fundy Waves 23-25, 25-14, 15-11; and a 25-0, 25-0 forfeit win over Island Wild.
The Raiders moved on to win their first crossover game, defeating the Scotia Juniors Blue 25-11, 25-7 to advance to the semifinals where they downed the Fundy Waves 25-17, 25-19.
But as it often goes, the team you beat in the round-robin comes back to win in the final, which is what the Scotia Juniors Black did, defeating the Raiders 25-19, 25-13.
U18 Raiders coach Archie Sofan said playing these tournaments is helping the girls achieve consistency.
“The first set of the championship was very tight, a lot of back and forth. In the second set they were able to maintain their high level of play, and we couldn’t maintain ours. We were very pleased with our level of play overall during the weekend,” Sofan said.
“There has been a shortage of tournaments throughout the province this year, so we haven’t been able to play as many Tier 1 games as we would like. When we are playing tougher competition you can see the potential that the team has.” Sofan said.
“When they are playing their ‘A’ game they are very balanced and can give teams fits attacking from everywhere. Hopefully we are able to build off that and become more consistent as the competition picks up the rest of the season.”
Meanwhile, the U17 Raiders Blue stood up well to the competition but came up short in the crossovers.
The Raiders lost their opening match 22-25, 24-26 in two back-and-forth sets with the Cape Breton Attackers. Shoreline needed three sets to get past the Raiders who won the first set 25-18 but then lost 23-25 and 9-15. In their third game of the round-robin, the Raiders defeated the Scotia Juniors Blue 25-15, 20-25, 15-11.
U17 Raiders coach Kelly Sofan said the girls held their own against the older teams.
“The girls played tough all weekend. I was really proud of their effort and resilience against some of the toughest competition we’ve faced this season,” she said.
“The girls have been working hard to improve their defense by improving their ability to read plays and adjust accordingly, which paid off for them this weekend when they were up against faster-paced teams.
“Kathryn MacKinnon and Brea Miller were rock solid in the back court all weekend, and Leeann MacEachern was able to set up our swings and move the ball around really well allowing Tayen Bernard and Belle MacLean to finish off a lot of points for us.”
With provincials still a month away, Archie Sofan said the Raiders teams will keep busy with tournament play.
“We have some big tournaments coming up in April, we head to Fredericton for an Elites of the East tournament and then have our second Super Series after that. Then the drive will be on to prepare for provincials.”