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What's New? GOLD MEDALISTS IN EASTERN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPSThe Niagara Rapids U14 Boys Volleyball team travelled to Sherbrooke, Quebec to take part in the Eastern National Championships. The Rapids team went into the tournament ranked sixth. On the first day of play the Rapids team took on the Samurai club from Longueuil, Quebec who were ranked second. The Rapids team started off slugish and lost the first game 24 to 26. The team than rebounded and won the next two games behind some strong serving and attacks and won 25 to 16 and 15 to 12. In their second game of the day the Rapids took on Carrefour de l'Acadie from Dieppe, Nova Scotia who were ranked third coming into the tournament. The Rapids took care of business and won the match by the scores of 25 to 17 and 25 to 18. In their final game of pool play the Rapids took on the most talented team in the tournament the Pac man from Mississauga who came in ranked seventh. In a hard faught battle the Rapids went down to defeat 21 to 25; 25 to 21 and 9 to 15 to finish second in their pool. On the second day of play the teams were re-pooled according to their previous days results. The Rapids took on Carrefour de l'Acadie again and defeated them 25 to 9 and 25 to 21. In their second match they took on the Maverick Bandits from Ottawa and came away with a close victory 25 to 17; 20 to 25 and a 17 to 15 to set up a battle for first place with Durham Attack. The Durham Attack team came in as the Ontario Champions and ranked number one in the tournament. After a disappointing lose to Durham in the provincial finals the Rapids came out firing on all cylinders and came away with a two games to one victory to capture first place in their pool. Scores were 25 to 17; 24 to 26 and 15 to 10. With this first place finsih the Rapids advanced to the semi-finals to take on the third ranked Samurai team from Quebec. The Rapids quickly took care of business with a strong attack and defense and put away the Samurai 25 to 11 and 25 to 17 to advance to the Eastern National finals. Here the Rapids took on the Pac man who had defeated the Durham Attack in two games and who were looking to revenge an earlier lose to the Rapids at the Provincial semi-finals. The Rapids came out strong with some excellent blocking by Clayton Blanchette, Patrick Desjardins, Justin Felkes and Cameron Klassen to slow down the powerful Pac man attack to jump out to an early 9 to 2 lead. The Rapids continued to pressure the Pac man with some excellent serving and some powerful attacks by Clayton Blanchette to extend the lead to 15 to 6. The Pac man began to change their attack and slowly mounted a comeback but with some terrific defense and passing by Jordan Pereira and Cameron Klassen the Rapids put the game away and won the first game 25 to 12. In the second game the Pac man quickly jumped out to an early lead with which they were able to hang onto and win 25 to 22. In the third and deciding game the Rapids put everything together and took advantage of errors by the Pac man and jumped out to an 8 to 4 lead. The rest of the game saw a see saw battle with each team playing some great defense and attacking with everything they had and saw the Rapids hang on to a 15 to 10 victory to capture the Gold Medal.  Teams consists of Matthew Bate (setter), Andrew Hauck (setter), Clayton Blanchette (middle), Justin Felkes (middle), Noah Janzen (middle), Connor Smith (middle), Patrick Desjardins (right side), Robert Scott (right side), Craig Ireland (left side), Cameron Klassen (left side), Adam Nartiss (left side), and Jordan Pereira (left side). SILVER MEDALISTS IN PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONSHIPS The Niagara Rapids Boys 14U Volleyball team had an exciting Provincial Championships that included ups and downs, close calls, agonizing defeats, and a once in a lifetime event like meeting the Prime Minister of Canada. The Rapids entered the tournament ranked second in the Province. On the Friday set of games the Rapids defeated Mac 2-1, (25-14, 22-25, 15-6) and Markham Stingers 2-0 (25-18, 25-15). The Rapids than played an outstanding match to defeat Forest City from London 2-0 (25-18, 25-19). The Rapids finished the first set of pool play in first place. On the second day the teams were re-pooled into Power Pools. The Rapids first game was against the sixth ranked team the Waterloo Predators and defeated them 2-0 (25-14, 25-19). In their second game the Rapids took on the Aurora Storm who were ranked fourth and defeated them 2-0 (25-21, 25-18). In their third game of the day they took on the Vaughtan Wolfpack who were ranked eleventh and the Rapids quickly defeated them 2 - 0 (25-10, 25-17). In their last pool game the Rapids played the third rank Durham Attack and were defeated 2 - 0 (20-25, 21-25). With the loss to Durham, the Rapids ended the day in the 2nd spot of their Power Pool which put them in as the 4th seed for the quarter finals. On the final day, the Niagara Rapids played the Riverside Rage from Windsor in the quarter finals. They defeated the Rage 2-0 (25-17, 25-20) to advance to the semi-finals. Here the Rapids took on the number one seed in the Mississauga Pacman. In an exciting match the Rapids played their best match of the year and upset the Pacman 2 games to 1 ( 25-20; 20-25; and 15-8) to advance to the Gold Medal game. In the Finals the Rapids once again faced the Durham Attack. In the first game the two teams battled point for point but a couple of costly passing errors cost the Rapids the first game as they were defeated 23-25. Once again in the second game the teams went head to head and traded points but with some great defence by Jordan Pereira and hitting by Clayton Blanchette the Rapids pulled ahead and won the second game 25-20 to force a third and deciding game. In this game Durham Attack quickly jumped out to an early lead with some tough serving and the Rapids were not able to come back as they lost 9-15 to finish second and capture the silver medal. The U14 Provincials were honoured with the presences of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as his son played for the Ottawa Fusion. Ottawa captured the Bronze Medal and with this the Prime Minister handed out the medals to the three teams. Each player for the Rapids had their picture taken with the Prime Minister has he handed them their silver medal and than he also posed for a picture with the whole team. “This was a great moment. So many doors open for our boys playing travel volleyball and something like this is gravy.” Commented Coach Albino Pereira. “A once in a lifetime opportunity to meet the Prime Minister and they did it on a volleyball court. It’s outstanding.” The Niagara Rapids finished the season with 4 Gold medals, 3 silver medals. Their over-all record for the season was an outstanding 42 wins and 6 losses. |
U14 Boys Coach: Albino PereiraCoach: Frank Hauck Coach: Caleb Thorpe
Team Roster |
