It was mission accomplished for the Vincent J. Maloney Marauders at the SAPEC volleyball championships Tuesday.
Not only did VJM capture its 13th city crown, a SAPEC record for girls, they also knocked off the reigning champion Sir George Simpson Voyageurs to sweeten the deal.
“This means everything to us,” said an overjoyed Marina Cain, the VJM captain, while clutching the championship trophy after Tuesday’s victory in the Tier 1 final. “We’ve been working for this for three months. We’ve been setting goals and doing everything we can to earn this trophy and this honour.”
Backed by a boisterous cheering section, VJM (9-1, 27 GW/8 GL) rose to the challenge to win 27-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-20 at Bellerose Composite High School. It was the team’s first SAPEC banner since 2009.
“It feels so good. They thought they were going to win two years in a row but not this year,” said Grade 9 middle Lauren Cardinal with an ear-to-ear grin.
In the last game before the playoffs, and first place on the line, Simpson swept VJM 25-18, 25-18, 26-24.
“We knew we had to beat them this time. We were more mentally prepared and ready for this game,” Cardinal said. “Our team set personal goals to be 7-0 (going into the playoffs) but that didn’t happen so the next goal was to win the banner and we’re just so happy to win it for our school.”
Last year Simpson defeated VJM 3-1 in the semifinals, en route to a 10-0 record and its 11th SAPEC title in team history.
“Our biggest goal was to beat Simpson,” Cain admitted. “In league play we wanted that game but we weren’t working as well together (in that loss) and today we knew we had to come together and work as a team no matter what.”
In the final VJM had more spring in its step than Simpson.
“We were all pumped up. In the warm-up we were so excited. We were trying to intimidate Simpson so we kept talking,” Cardinal said.
The opening set was a roller-coaster as the teams exchanged leads several times.
Simpson threatened to run away with it during an eight-point run to make it 16-10 as Sierra Gaulden’s serving gave VJM fits.
After a hit by Chloe Gidora pushed Simpson closer to victory at 23-19, VJM rallied as Cardinal attacked the ball with urgency and sloppy serving by Simpson led to a tense finish.
The second set was another cliffhanger until Simpson closed it out with seven straight points, highlighted by Lauryn Tremblay’s strong work at the net and Gaulden’s accurate serving.
“We were kind of getting down on each other in the second set,” said Cardinal, who teamed up with Jordan Fenton offensively for a good chunk of the team’s points in the set.
The loss forced VJM to regroup. “We knew this game wasn’t going to be handed to us. We had to work for it and we put everything into it that we could do it,” said Cain, a Grade 9 setter.
The third set was another see-saw affair before VJM scored four in a row to regain the lead at 16-13 and never trailed the rest of the way.
Cardinal’s hit off a block to end a long rally left Simpson trailing 20-16. She later fooled Simpson by faking a spike before flipping the ball over the net to put VJM on the verge of victory at 23-18.
In the fourth set a confident VJM side jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead and never stopped rolling. “We knew if we dig deep and push really hard we would end up with the win,” Cardinal said.
After falling behind 15-7 on Alissa Tanguay’s serve for VJM, Simpson clawed its way back into contention with seven points in a row and Gidora at the serving line. VJM recovered to gradually match Simpson score for score before Tanguay sealed it with unreturnable serves for the last two points.
“It was just a really great game by us,” said Cardinal, 14. “We did really well picking up the garbage off the ground that came off the blocks and our hitting was really good too.”
Cardinal, Cain, Erika Dubrule, Kristen Kolthof and Alexis Pusch are returning players on the VJM roster and making the jump to the senior team were Fenton, Tanguay, Sarah Dedrick, Maya Griffin, Abbey Kirchner, Vanessa Quismorio and Holly Vogel.
Ten of the VJM players are in Grade 9, compared to six for Simpson (8-2, 27 GW/9 GL).
In four tournaments VJM went undefeated at the SPC Parkland Challenge in Stony Plain, finished second at the Great Canadian Classic in Spruce Grove, placed fourth at the annual SAPEC tourney and was the consolation champion at the University of Alberta competition.
“It’s been a great year and our team worked really hard to make it happen,” said Cain, 14.
Meanwhile, in the Tier 2 final Monday the William D. Cuts Crusaders (5-5, 20 GW/19 GL) swept the Morinville Wolves (3-7, 9 GW/25 GL) 25-15, 25-16, 25-17.
