Wildcats claw back to win mixed volleyball title
Talk about drama.
It’s hard to imagine how the Kawartha Pine Ridge Elementary Athletic Association North mixed volleyball final could have been closer. The Westmount Wildcats fought off match point on five occasions rallying from a 10-4 deficit in the third set tie-breaker to beat the Lakefield Intermediate Tigers 25-23, 23-25, 21-19.
The 12-team event took place Wednesday at Adam Scott Collegiate. Millbrook South Cavan won the bronze medal beating James Strath 25-20, 25-21.
The Tigers also fought off match point on three occasions until Westmount finally ended the game.
“I really work with these younger athletes about remaining calm and confident in those stressful situations,” said Westmount coach Andrew Hinchey, a former national team beach volleyball player and founder of Soul Beach Volleyball.
“That was something which came up a lot today and I thought they managed really well. I’m really impressed for them to be able to do that at that age.”
“It was a great way to end the volleyball season,” said Westmount’s Madeleine Ghatavi. “It was a pretty fun day all around.”
When asked how they survived five match points, Greg Ebiszaki Mackay said, “We believed in our skills and knew we could come back and we just never gave up,” he said.
It made for some tense moments, though.
“Whenever the ball was coming to you it made you really nervous,” Ghatavi said, “but we just stayed relaxed.”
Hinchey said mixed volleyball offers an interesting dynamic.
“In the morning you’ll have your boys warming up together and your girls warming up together. It’s really cool to see by the end of the day how those barriers are broken down. You see them come together talking and communicating,” he said.
“They are almost two entities at the beginning of the day and by the end of the day they are all playing together as a team.”
Tigers coach Jeff Darling said he was proud of his team.
“They played very good three-hit volleyball,” Darling said. “The kids are very, very coachable. They’re sponges with everything we do in practices and take it into the games. That’s all you can ask.”
After losing the first set they rallied to win the second and had five chances to win the match.
“We were playing against a very good team,” Darling said. “Westmount plays good three-hit volleyball, too, and they’re very well coached.”
More photographs from the final between the Westmount Public School Wildcats and the Lakefield Intermediate School Tigers at the Kawartha Pine Ridge Elementary Athletic Association Intermediate Mixed Volleyball Tournament at Adam Scott Collegiate on Wednesday. Westmount took first place.