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LDSS wins TVRA A VB SE crown

 

 Beavers win junior girls' volleyball title

 

   LDSS completes clean run of TVRA South-East division

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Dorchester Beavers, TVRA 'A' South-East junior girls' volleyball champions, from left, front row - Kristen Bisshop, Hannah Vickers, Emma McKnight, Victoria Quance, Carly Woods; back - coach Vanessa Bisshop, Katie McDonald, Nicole Trodden, Sarah Ashby, Avery Dance, Makayla Vanyolai, Madison Lunick, coach Kelly Quance. Absent from photo, Taya Armstrong. (photo / Rob J. Ross)

Thursday, February 16, 2017

 

By Rob J. Ross

DORCHESTER, Ont. - In game three the Dorchester Beavers trailed the West Elgin Wildcats by 10 points with the next point allowed meant game over.

That point never came until the Wildcats pulled out a 27-25 squeaker. But momentum regained by the Beavers propelled them to a 25-17 game four win and a 3-1 match victory, capturing the Thames Valley Region Athletics (TVRA) South-East A junior girls' volleyball title, at Lord Dorchester Secondary School.

"We had confidence that we would be able to win it in the fourth," Dorchester coach Kelly Quance said. "We wanted a spot at WOSSAA. That was our number one goal. But really close to that was playing everybody as much as we could."

The Beavers now move to the Western Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (WOSSAA) tournament, February 23, in Goderich.

WOSSAA schedule

"We let everybody play. We have three Grade nine's and we wanted them to have the experience of playing in a final. We wanted them all to play," Quance said. "It was important to have everybody play in the final if possible."

Dorchester jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the match, winning games one and two, 25-14 and 25-13. West Elgin jumped out to a 12-5 lead in the third game and was on the verge on winning at 24-14. But the Beaver reeled off 11 consecutive points, to push ahead 25-24. The Wildcats stayed alive squeezing out three points for the win, but in game four after knotted at six, the Beavers pushed to victory.

Dorchester defeated Glencoe, three games to one in the semi-finals, earlier in the day.

Throughout the final almost each player had moments contributing, similar to how the team compiled a 8-0 match record winning the TVRA East Division.

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Dorchester Beavers' Sarah Ashby(26) and Madison Lunick, leap to block West Elgin Wildcat Katie Bradshaw, during the TVRA 'A' South-East junior girls volleyball final, at Lord Dorchester.

 (photo / Rob J. Ross)

While Emma McKnight, Katie McDonald and Sarah Ashby were delivering hits for points, Kristen Bisshop and McDonald were strong at the net blocking.

Victoria Quance and Hannah Vickers, pole vaulters during the spring track and field season, used their reflexes on digs and tracking and bringing back balls heading out of bounds.

The freshmen are Madison Lunick, Avery Dance and Nicole Trodden.

"We are a really good passing team. We worked a lot on passing. We want controlled first passes and because of that I think we were able to keep those long rallies going," coach Quance said. "That's a key to being a strong team."

The offence starts from the service line.

"The girls are all strong servers. We taught them the best serve is the one that is in (under or over hand). We don't give up many points on the serve, added coach Quance.

The Beavers played in two tournaments during the season, at Arva Medway and Ingersoll.

"We did well. We made it to the semis. The goal there was playing everybody and getting experience. We tried new things," coach Quance said. "We believe in developing all of them. No one is on the team just to sit and watch. We're really happy that everybody played today."

The Beavers return to WOSSAA, hoping to capture the title which eluded the team a year ago. Dorchester, featuring a roster of strictly Grade nine's aside from one player, lost to St. Marys DCI, in the gold medal game.

Not one player focuses on volleyball year round.

Along with Victoria Quance and Vickers, McDonald, Ashby, McKnight and Makayla Vanolai, compete in track and field.

McKnight also plays hockey and Quance and Bisshop were part of the Dorchester senior girls' basketball team that went to OFSAA.

 

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