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Stamps South-East volleyball
champs
Parkside captures senior and junior titles completing undefeated conference runs
February 16, 2024
By Rob J. Ross
ST. THOMAS - Not one team could touch the Parkside Stampeders throughout the South-East, at the junior or senior level.
Both Parkside teams completed undefeated runs in the Thames Valley Region Athletics (TVRA) division, winning their respective AA girls volleyball final Thursday at Parkside CI.
Something magical happening at the south east St. Thomas school next to Pinafore Park.
"I don't think I can divulge that," laughed Parkside senior captain Emilie Dlouhy. "I think it's great coaching and it's eager girls who love to play volleyball and it's all they want to do and all they want to commit their time too. School of course too. But everyone is so enthusiastic here. The volleyball atmosphere is just awesome at Parkside."
In the senior final, Parkside defeated the East Elgin Eagles, three games to one, 25-13, 25-22, 22-25, 25-17.
"Skill and energy on the court. That's really one of the things that helped us win, our energy," said Dlouhy. "We have a very good serve plan where we like to use angles and we have a really good serve receive plan. Everyone knows what seam they're taking and where they're going. Of course, our awesome attacks."
The Eagles did grab game three, avoiding the sweep, but the Stampeders jump out to a 11-3 lead in game four, snuffing out any hope of a come back.
"We went into this game knowing that East wasn't coming to just hang out. They were coming to play too," said Dlouhy. "Losing that set, we were like, hey, it's whoever wants this."
The senior Stampeders went 14-0 (match record) through the South-East, only dropping three games, one to the Eagles in the final.
"It's all about team cohesion," Dlouhy said. "No one person does one job. Everybody contributes in every certain way. It's all about teammates and it's about showing up to the seven a.m. practices and always being there for your teammates."
In senior South-East semifinal action earlier in the day, Parkside dusted the Dorchester Beavers in three games, while the Eagles took care of Ingersoll.
Next is WOSSAA (Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association), Thursday, February 22, at Ingersoll, where likely the Oakridge Oaks from London will be the favourite to win and advance to OFSAA.
Parkside met Oakridge in the final at a tournament in Chatham earlier this month, losing a pair of close games.
"We played really well after a really long day," recalled Dlouhy. "It was a super great learning experience because there were some of the top teams."
At WOSSAA, for the semifinals, Parkside faces St. Mike's (12-0), the Huron-Perth champs, while East Elgin takes on Oakridge, TVRA AA Central division winners.
The WOSSAA champs goes to OFSAA, March 4-6, in Sydenham, north of Kingston.
"That would be super crazy," admits Dlouhy.
In the junior South-East final, the Stampeders downed the St. Joe's Rams, three games to one as well, winning 25-19, 20-25, 25-9, 25-19.
Parkside's juniors were 13-0 in the South-East, losing only four games, including one in the final and one to the Central Elgin Titans in the quarterfinals.
In junior semis, Parkside swept Dorchester, while St. Joe's needed a fifth game to knock out Ingersoll.
Both Parkside and St. Joe's move on to WOSSAA, joining St. Mike's (7-4) and Oakridge (9-1).
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