With six weeks between the first tournament of the New Year and the February 6th Challenge Cup, the 16U Girls Purple began a hard training regimen to be prepared to compete at their best. The coaching staff challenged the girls to work hard and change bad habits which indeed was hard for the girls but did pay off.

After a rocky start in the morning, the girls found themselves 3rd in their pool. It was going to take a lot of guts and determination to pull back to medal contention. In the pre-quarter finals the girls faced off with against the Storm 15U. Fusion won the first game 25-17 and lost the even closer second one 26-24, putting us into a hard fought third set. The girls came out flying and were the first to 8 points.  With the lead, they kept the momentum going and held on to win 15-12 - a must needed win to make up for the morning mishap.

In the quarter finals, Fusion faced off with a team from Interclub.  The girls used the momentum of their first win to keep pushing forward winning the first set 25-19. With confidence the girls went back out on the court and took an early lead.   Some unfortunate unforced errors on our side allowed the Interclub team back into the game. Interclub’s momentum swing was too strong for the girls and they took the second game 25-20. Another third game, the girls were really getting their monies worth from this tournament. They refocused between games, came out of the gates early and never looked back, getting an 8-2 lead and finishing the game 15-9. All in all, a great match for Fusion.

Next up - the semis. The girls were now guaranteed at least a top 4 finish - the first time they have been in this situation. Our semi-final match was against the Panthers, definitely a beatable team. The first game was pretty evenly matched - both teams were really fighting for it. It was going to take all the gas in the girls' tanks to push this one through. The girls fought hard but came up short losing 25-20.  The second set was all Panther’s the girls fought hard but the numerous games played to get to the semis took its toll on them and they ran out of steam. The Panthers took the second game 25-9.

Off to the Bronze medal game.  It would be a fight and the girls would have to pull together and find the inner spirit to take this one away from a good Etobicoke Titans team.  The girls tried to muscle out what they could but injuries shortened our bench and the girls fell short losing in two to the Titans.

The coaching staff was so proud to see the determination of the girls.  They could have just folded after the morning hiccup but found their inner strength and prevailed to move up to a higher position in the rankings

Next up Barrie!