CEC girls team rallies to win Dalhousie tournament

The CEC Cougars showed grit and determination in overcoming a first-set loss to defeat the Citadel Phoenix in the final of the Dalhousie University High School girls’ volleyball tournament.

The Cougars dropped the first set 9-25, before rallying to win 25-21 and 15-13 to capture their fourth straight tournament title.

Because of the schedule, the Cougars had to play their semifinal and final matches back-toback, while Citadel had a match off in between their semis and final.

Cobequid struggled with servereceive and was never really in the first set of the final. Citadel served the Cougars off the court, building a 17-2 lead and dominating the opening set from start to finish.

In the second set, the Cougars showed their resiliency by taking an early lead and maintaining a three/four-point lead throughout the rest of the set.

In the deciding set, CEC led 8-7 when the teams changed ends. The Cougars later went ahead 10-7, but the Phoenix came roaring back to take an 11-10 lead before the Cougars closed out the set at 15-13.

In their semifinal, the Cougars had to fight off four match points against a tough Lockview squad. Lockview led 14-10 in the third set but the Cougars battled back to win that match 25-17, 25-27, 17-15.

At the conclusion of that match, CEC left-side Abby Bernard, who had played all weekend on an injured ankle, had to retire to the bench and was not able to play in the final.

Dalhousie Tigers coach Rick Scott, who was in attendance, said the CEC win was one of the gutsiest performances that he had seen in a long time.

In the final, the strong attack of both Nicole Rector and Robbie Gordon was a key to the Cougars victory. Rector had nine kills in the second and third sets while Gordon had five. The strong serving of Ellen Lewis was also a major factor, as she had 11 successful serves with two aces in the final two sets. Maddie Greatorex, who started in place of Bernard in the finals, came up with five key digs. Rebecca Worden, who was battling the flu all weekend, had an outstanding tournament setting, serving and playing tough defence for the Cougars.

Worden, Rector and Gordon were named to the tournament all-star team.

Rector led the attack with 25 kills in the tournament, while Gordon had 23 kills and only two hitting errors. Maddie MacGregor led the team in attack percentage with 18 kills and zero hitting errors for 66.7 per cent, while Lewis led the way in serving with 12 aces, 46 successful serves and just four serving errors for a 3.34 serving average. MacGregor also had 12 aces, 50 successful serves and only five serving errors for a 3.24 serving average. Hannah Crouse was the top serve-receiver for the Cougars with 38 perfect passes and a 2.26 serve-receive average.

Crouse played her heart out on defence, recording an incredible 43 spike digs. Rector led the team in blocks with 22, followed by MacGregor with 11. Worden was able to chase down every pass and run a balanced attack to lead the Cougars to victory from her setting position.

This weekend, both CEC girls teams will be competing in the Mount Saint Vincent University High School Tournament.