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.