© 2025 Hometownplay.ca
Parkside back to back WOSSAA champs
Defend AA junior girls volleyball title sweeping aside Oakridge in gold match
February 21, 2024
By Rob J. Ross
STRATFORD, Ont. - The Parkside Stampeders are back to back WOSSAA junior girls AA champions.
Parkside completed an undefeated season sweeping through the Western Ontario (WOSSAA) tournament with a 6-0 record, February 20 at St. Mike's Secondary school.
"It feels awesome coming back to win WOSSAA and get gold again and share this experience with my team," Parkside co-captain Carerah Perry said. "We worked really well collectively and kept in mind that our teammates were there. Having that reliability and confidence in your team is the biggest thing."
The Stampeders silenced London Oakridge Oaks, 25-9, 25-16, 25-20, in the gold medal match.
In the semifinals, Parkside again took care of St. Thomas rival, St. Joseph's Rams, 25-17, 25-9, 25-19.
"We wanted to repeat. That was the goal," co-captain Emilee Mrozowski said. "We wanted to come back to WOSSAA. We trusted each other to get the job done."
A year ago, the Stampeders defeated the Rams in gold match.
St. Joe's brought home this year's bronze medal, defeating the host team, 25-23,25-23,25-19.
At the senior level, Oakridge took the 3-0 count against Parkside in the gold match, winning 25-18, 25-12, 25-16.
"We had a really good day. We've had a really good season," Parkside captain Avery Clark said. "We knew coming to WOSSAA, that Oakridge would be tough to beat. They worked really hard all season too and they deserve this win.
The Oaks brought something to the court other opponents hadn't when facing the Stampeders.
"We played a lot of schools that didn't have the versatility that Oakridge did," Clark said. "We didn't see a lot of back row hits or as hard as hits."
In the senior semifinals, Parkside avenged a five game loss to Ingersoll in the SouthEast final a week earlier, taking the match in four games.
"I'm proud of all of our girls because we did such as good job," said Clark. "It was expected for us to come to WOSSAA and I'm happy with the outcome even though I would have liked to go to OFSAA."
The Oaks advance to OFSAA, March 4-6, in North Bay.
St. Mike's swept Ingersoll, 3-0, in the bronze medal match.
Of the eight senior and junior matches at WOSSAA, seven were three games to none results.
More images on Instagram - hometownplay