For this 17U Girls Fusion team, Nationals was the biggest competition of the year. It’s the reason why we trained a minimum 3 times a week for countless hours trying to perfect our skills both on and off the court. When Cathy dropped the Div. 2 bomb on us during the second last practice of the season, I’m pretty sure I heard every girls heart drop to the ground with a loud thump. We had worked so hard all year long to be one of the top teams in the province. We had sweat way too many gallons to have been put in Division 2 for nationals (again). But with a performance at provincials that left us saying “should’ve, could’ve, would’ve, “we collectively swallowed our pride and took a positive approach to this not-so-positive situation.

At the crack of dawn Wednesday May 12th, most of the team departed for Abbotsford, BC for our final tournament of the 2010 season.  With minimal turbulence and some chicken wraps complements of Quiznos, we landed safely at the airport and left for the hotel. After a 6 hour flight, the rest of the day was ours to relax. 

Because of the time difference, waking up early felt more like sleeping in.  This would later benefit us playing in the morning wave. Off to practice we went. After getting used to the facilities, we visited the beautiful Capilano Suspension Bridge. With some amazing photography (shout out to Nicole) we got some great shots of the park. The rest of the day was spent exploring Granville Island and everyone’s favourite… the Lululemon Outlet Store. After a day of activities, we all headed back to the hotel to get ready for why we really came to British Columbia…

 

Friday, Day 1, we set out to Tradex. Our first match was against Coquitlam Ducks Mary – we seemed to start off strong taking the first set 25-20. Then we started to slam on the breaks losing the second set 18-25, and ultimately lost the third 15-17. Our next match was against SBMV Moyra. It was pretty obvious the true Fusion was finally starting to crack the egg taking this game 25-12, 25-20.  The final game of the day was against South West Lightning. We seemed to have been bouncing back from provincials and gaining confidence taking this game 25-15, 25-9. With the first day complete, we continued on into Tier 1.

Day 2 started off “early” once again with a match at 8 am against KVC K.O.’s (Kelowna). This team was similar to ours in the sense that they were expected to be successful at Provincials but came up short. This was proven when after winning the first set 25-22, it came down to a two point game in the second. With a great deal of patience, we came out on top 27-25. The second match of the day was against ApeXX and we won 25-19, 25-18. And finally, we played Oakville Thunder Blue for the last match of the day. By concentrating on our side of the court we took this match 25-16, 25-18. 

After a yummy dinner and the best and fastest restaurant service possible at the Old Spaghetti Factory, we were off to bed early because the last day is always the big one…

Championship Sunday, Day 3, we found ourselves in the quarters after finishing first in the previous day’s pool play. We played Barrie Elites, winning 25-16, 25-19 and headed to the semi finals to play Peel Selects 93’.  It just amazed us that we came so far out to end up playing Ontario teams! The first set, we came out socks pulled up and ready to play taking it 25-14. The second set was close, but only because we love to give the spectators a heart attack – 28-26. In the finals, we were matched up against Canuck Vitality, another team who was in the same boat as us… here to prove to Volleyball Canada that they deserved to be in Div. 1 and to bring home a banner. In the first set, we got out-played and lost 18-25. With just enough time to turn this game around, our team pulled out a win by minimizing our errors 25-21. We knew that we couldn’t take this team lightly and we would have to earn every point if we planned on winning. With some great passing, setting and hitting, we won the third set 15-10!  The Division 2 banner would be coming back home with us again.

After a long, unforgettable season, the 17U Fusion Girls would love to thank all of the parents for their constant and unwavering commitment to this team and to the sport. The biggest thanks goes out to Cathy, Linden and Jessica for putting up with us crazy girls. It’s been great but hold back those tears, because we have one more year of redemption ladies.