The 17U and 18U National Championships held in Ottawa, Ontario on May
2, 3, and 4 marked the first time in club history that Predator teams
have participated in a National Championship tournament. The KW Predators
18U Girls Purple team, coached by Paul Pavan, Mary Jane Thomas and Pat
Daniels and the 17U Girls team coached by Wayne Rabley, Martin Schiller
and Al Arges both performed admirably showing that they belong with
the best teams in the country.
The 18U team finished as the 5th best team in the country after 3 days
of strong competition. On the opening day the Preds finished with a
2 win, 1 loss record to finish 2nd in their pool. The Preds defeated
the 4th seeded team out of British Columbia and the 3rd seeded team
out of Saskatchewan before losing to the eventual tournament champions,
Selkirk from Manitoba. The two wins moved the Preds to the round of
16 where they again finished with 2 wins and 1 loss, thereby advancing
the team to the round of 8. In the quarter-finals the team lost to the
Cobras from Manitoba ending the Predators dream of winning a medal.
The short-handed 17U girls team showed tremendous heart in finishing
a respectable 13th in Canada. Playing without starting setter Tiffany
Pinksen and left-side attacker Claire Schellenberg, the team battled
against the best teams in the country, but ran out of steam on the second
day of the competition. During the first day of the championships the
team finished with a 2 win, 1 loss record to advance to the round of
16. The second day was not kind to the Predators, as they went winless
and putting them in a position to finish no better than 9th.
The 16U Predators travel to Calgary on May 16-18 to compete in the
Canada West National Championship tournament. Live results can be found
at www.volleyball.ca.
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