Winning the SAPEC girls’ volleyball crown was a dream come true for the Lorne Akins Gators.
And they did it in dramatic fashion in Thursday’s 15-25, 28-26, 25-22, 22-25, 18-16 upset of the William D. Cuts Crusaders in front of a packed gym at Bellerose Composite High School.
Gators captain Marinya Marcichiw was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the moment.
“It’s a breathtaking experience. It’s the most amazing feeling to win it,” said the Grade 9 middle while hugging the championship trophy. “It’s the most amazing game we’ve ever played. We worked really hard all year for this and the accomplishment is so great.”
Both teams played their hearts out throughout the emotional rollercoaster.
“Every single point you’re so nervous. It was really emotional and nerve racking,” said Cuts’ captain Erin Warmington.
In the tension-filled fifth set, and the Gators clinging to a 14-13 lead, a hit by Cuts that landed outside the line triggered a brief court celebration by Lorne Akins. However, one of the linesmen had raised a flag to signal a touch ball. Head referee Cindy Andrews and the down official, John Strembitsky, conferred with both linesmen to verify the call because it was an important point at that stage in the match.
“They thought they saw a touch on the ball and they were unsure so they just called it as a re-serve,” Marcichiw said. “We freaked out at first but then we figured if we stay calm and collected we can still take it home.”
On the re-serve, Cuts tied it on Katherine Corrigan’s serve, then took the lead with a point off a block.
“The ref and the ump didn’t see it but a lot of people were calling touch so when we did the re-serve that was just so uplifting to us to know that we still had a chance to stay in it,” Warmington said.
The teams then traded points before Marcichiw tied it at 16 with a hit. She made it 17-16 with a serve that was too tough to handle. Her next serve was returned out of bounds to seal the deal.
“It was a perfect ending to a great game,” said the dominating Grade 9 middle.
The Gators never trailed in the fifth set until they got outscored 6-1 to fall behind 15-14.
“The fifth one was so close. We just about did it,” Warmington said.
After dropping the opening set the Gators refused to lose the marathon affair. A trio of Grade 9 players – middle Nicole Serbu, libero/power Katie Fitzgerald and setter Sydney Hurlburt – helped paved the way to victory.
“We started to talk more and people were hitting straight down,” Marcichiw said. “When they came back after those sets we won, we really settled down and got refocused. We hunkered down on the court and took it from them.”
Cuts dug deep to force a fifth set after almost grabbing a stranglehold in the final. Grade 9 middle Taylor Anderson and Grade 8 power Alicia Easthope played major roles throughout the match.
“We had it at the beginning. We gave it our all in the second set. We also came back really hard in the fourth,” Warmington said. “We just needed to talk more and communicate out there but other than that we did awesome.”
The Grade 9 setter was proud of her team despite the loss. Cuts finished 8-2 overall after placing second in league play.
“We had such a good season. We just pushed so hard in every single game and we really improved since last year. It was amazing,” said Warmington, 14.
The Gators celebrated their first SAPEC title since 2005 in grand style after knocking off the undefeated Sir George Simpson Voyageurs 3-1 in the semifinals. In last year’s final Simpson beat the Gators in four sets.
Seeded fourth in the playoffs, the Gators finished 7-3 overall.
“We were the underdogs, very much so. It was a great year and we owe it all to our coaches,” said Marcichiw, 14, of the bench tandem of Wendy Jennings and Shawn Andersen.
