Powell River Aces entered two teams into Volleyball BC’s Super Spike Tournament for U13 teams held in Vancouver recently, leading up to Regional Island Championships where the girls brought home bronze over the weekend.
At the 16-team tournament in Vancouver, both Powell River teams played well.
“It was a tremendous learning experience and we found out there are some very good U13 teams in the province,” said Doug Skinner, coach.
In Pool A, Powell River won two games and lost one. “The extremely tough-serving Abbotsford team made life difficult for us,” said Skinner.
This placed Aces second in Pool A and meant they would play a first-placed team from Pool B in Sunday’s playoffs.
Player highlights for the day were “continued excellent passing by Paige Lawson,” said Skinner, “some good hits and power tips by Maddie Yule, great serving by Katie Tuba, Kayla Reed and Lauren Mander and a number of sparkling saves by Tyana Sacree.”
Pool B Aces had a tougher pool where they lost all three matches. Playing against BCO Black of North Vancouver they lost 13-25, 11-25. “Very strong serving from Matilda Bertrand caught the other team off guard,” said Skinner. “She racked up six points in a row.”
At the playoffs, Pool B Aces narrowly lost against Surrey Focus Thunderbirds. “This was a tight match...very close in the second set,” said Skinner. In their final match, Aces lost against Ridge Meadows, but Skinner said this match showed the best team play of the tournament. “There was high focus, new intensity and teamwork.”
Pool A Aces lost against Victoria Titans in their first match but demonstrated they could play against this team. Their last match was against Sunshine Coast against whom they have yet to win. “Freeball play improved and the unforced errors dropped dramatically,” said Skinner.
Next up for the Aces was the Regional Island Championships in Victoria on Saturday, March 31 and Sunday, April 1. Once again, Aces divided into two teams, Doug and Diana.
In pool play Team Doug beat Crush of Campbell River 25-9, 25-7 and Comox 25-10, 22-25, 15-12; lost to Titans Blue 21-25, 22-25 and came second in their pool.
During playoffs, Doug unfortunately played against Aces’ other team, Diana, and won 25-7, 25-14. They then played in semifinal against top team on Vancouver Island, Victoria Titans Red, and “got thumped” 7-25, 9-25. “Our last match was the bronze medal match against Nanaimo and our girls took that match 25-10, 25-14,” said Skinner. It was the best match of the tournament, he added. “Paige Lawson served 10 consecutive points in game one, Maddie Yule had three kills in game one and served eight straight in the second game and Matilda Bertrand had two enormous blocks in the first set.”
Team Diana beat Victoria Volleyball Club in pool play, lost a close match to Nanaimo, and were easily beaten by the Titans. This placed them third in their pool. After losing against Team Doug in the playoffs, the girls rallied and won their next two matches, placing them fifth overall in the tournament.
Coaches Grant and Diana Findlay were delighted with the girls’ improvement this weekend. Team Diana highlights were Hope Lechner having “some nice hits and a couple of key blocks,” said Skinner. “Claudia Piccinin and Sylena Romanyshyn served and played great defence all weekend and Maegan Brown and Annika Pfeifer served very well.”
