A convincing victory
Colonel Gray sweeps host Charlottetown Rural to win PEISAA girls' volleyball championship
The Colonel Gray Colonels, once again, proved they are the class of the P.E.I. School Athletic Association (PEISAA) Senior AAA Girls Volleyball League.
The Colonels posted a convincing 3-0 (25-10, 2518, 25-12) win over the host Charlottetown Rural Raiders in the gold-medal match on Saturday. It is the Colonels’ third straight provincial title under head coach Laura Ready.
“We came ready, and the girls knew what they had to do,” said Ready. “Rural has a lot of strong players, and by no means was it easy for us.
“We worked hard, knew what we had to do on our side of the net, and executed our game plan flawlessly.”
The Colonels focused on aggressive serving and playing strong defence. Ready praised the play of Grace Potter, who delivered some momentum-shifting blocks against Rural’s top hitters early in the match.
“We’ve been focusing on defence all year,” said Ready. “The classic saying that offence wins games, defence wins championships has been our motto all season.
“Offence is going to come naturally to a lot of players, but you can’t have an offence if your defence is not there, especially in volleyball.”
MVP
The Colonels’ Seven McHatten, who plays the offside position, was named the MVP of the provincial championship tournament against her former team.
"I was very nervous coming into it, but once I started playing, I got comfortable with the court and surroundings," said McHatten. "We all played very well, and it was a great match."
McHatten played at Rural in Grades 10 and 11. A move to West Royalty resulted in her attending Colonel Gray for her senior season.
“It felt really good to be part of this team and be welcomed in and win the provincial championship,” said McHatten.
She added it was an easy transition because she had played intermediate volleyball with most of the Colonels at Queen Charlotte.
McHatten was all over the court in the final. After Rural had cut Gray’s lead from 18-11 to 18-15 in the second set, McHatten quelled that momentum with a wellplaced spike to make it 19-15.
In the third set, McHatten recorded a career-high 11 straight points serving that gave the Colonels an 18-4 advantage.
“It was very tiring,” she said. “It was nerve-racking, too, because I wanted to keep it going. It was very challenging, and I am surprised I kept it going that long.”
EXTRA SIGNIFICANCE
The championship carried extra significance for Ready and Gray’s six seniors – McHatten, Syd Strain, Claire Davis, Ella Hickey, Marie Fogarty and Monica Gollaher. Ready started coaching the group in Grade 7 at Queen Charlotte Intermediate School.
“It was nice to have Seven come back and join us for their final year,” said Ready. “Seven was the MVP in Grade 9 as well. The girl thrives under pressure.”
Raiders head coach Alice Champion said Rural could not put their entire game together.
She said they struggled to pass the ball early, and once they figured that out, they did not hit or serve well.
“There were just too many errors,” said Champion.