It might seem hard to believe, but just one generation ago, volleyball remained something of a semi-fringe sport in youth circles, certainly still contested within the school systems, definitely with Olympic and international appeal, but lacking the across-the-board draw that basketball enjoyed.

And while there is many a good thing happening within the local basketball community – kudos to all those involved with the Saturday Triple-Header at the Sudbury Arena – there is little doubt that volleyball numbers are at least equal if not edging slightly ahead of their court cousins.

Full disclosure: as an avid fan of all youth sports in Sudbury, I find myself excited when all sports are growing in unison, when success can be found right across the local spectrum of athletics

That said, it wasn’t all that difficult at all to come up with a nice cross-section of stories from a variety of levels of volleyball last week as we lead into the OCAA showdown Wednesday night at Collège Boréal between the Vipères and the Cambrian Golden Shield.

Last Wednesday, I took in an excellent matchup of potential first round playoff opponents within the SDSSAA senior girls Division I loop as the Confederation Chargers (5-2) travelled to the south-end to face the Lo-Ellen Park Knights (3-4).

The junior matchup had already gone the way of the Valley girls as coach Craig Thomson and company recorded a 25-11, 20-25, 25-17, 26-24 triumph. The senior Knights seemed intent on flipping that script in the evening finale, taking the first set 25-23 as some very aggressive serving by setter Sarah Teddy and attacker Olivia Lascelle created some challenges for Confed.

That said, the Chargers could counter from the service line with the likes of Madisyn Leblanc and Madison Roy serving bullets, and with Marley Tremblay and Abbey Walker scoring more and more from the right and left sides on lovely sets courtesy of Danica Fleming, the visitors roared back to take the next three sets, 25-18, 25-23, 25-18.

“Our serving is all about our coaches,” noted 17 year old Maddie Roy, a volleyball player since her time back in grade three. “We do drills every practice that are about serving hard and deep. I think that’s where it (our strength) comes from.”

A member of the Northern Chill Volleyball Club until grade eight, Roy knows that merging the pure high-school athlete with those still devoted to club ball is a critical element of success for her team.

“Honestly, when we are working with someone who plays Chill, you work to build up the chemistry with them and then you both equally play good.”

That formula is definitely working to a “T” with the Horizon Aigles junior girls team. Sitting with a record of 7-1 and locked in an outstanding battle with the likes of Lo-Ellen (7-1), Confederation (6-1) and St Charles College (5-2), the junior Aigles captured the Champlain tournament last Friday, beating the Algonquin Barons in the final after edging the Chargers in semi-final play.

“The Chill girls are super encouraging,” suggested Horizon middle Emily Mathias, now in just her second year of school volleyball given her summer side passion of baseball, softball and such. “They know that we haven’t played as much as them. If we need help, they are always there for us.”

“They explain things super well.”

It helps that their friendships as schoolmates clearly supercedes the fact that they are then teammates on the floor as well. “We get along really well with each other because we’re all friends who are in classes with each other,” said Mathias, the elder of two girls in the family, her younger sister also quite gifted athletically, a recent badminton title serving as proof.

“It helps us work well as a team. We encourage each other; even when we make a bad mistake, we don’t get down.”

At 5’8 ½”, Mathias finds herself right about average in terms of height with other middles in the league, but doesn’t seemed too fazed when she has to hit against those who might have a few inches on her.

“I usually don’t notice the blockers so I focus on my hit and where their defense is playing,” she suggested. “If there’s an opening, I will try and hit there. And say there’s three blockers, you can also tip too, so that’s an advantage.”

Rounding out the 2023-2024 Horizon Aigles junior girls volleyball roster are Madison Paris, Scarlett Parri, Reaghan Chamberland, Bianka Vitiello, Lexi Briscoe, Isabelle Renaud, Julia Pagnutti, Éllie Renaud and Abigail Winsor.

Beyond the glut of high-school games and tournaments being played and a very similar landscape for local elementary schools comes the club environment, with four Northern Chill teams in action this past weekend and another four coming off tournament play one weekend before.

The 17U Overchill boys were back in action in Barrie and very much looking forward to redeeming themselves in their second OVA event of the winter. “Last year, we went up quite a bit in the rankings,” noted 16 year old Horizon senior Logan Trottier. “This year, at our first tournament, we didn’t do so well.”

“It was our first tournament, of course. But we just made our way back up to Championship A after our silver medal placing.”

In fact, the lads came awfully close to climbing right to the top of their bracket earlier this month, dropping a tight 21-25, 27-25, 14-16 decision in the final to the Toronto Thunderbolts Smash.

Returning the vast majority of players from the 2022-2023 16U Chill squad, the northern ball swatters have learned where their road to success generally travels. “I would say that we are very skilled at running certain plays, certain quicker sets that are run at quicker tempo,” said Trottier.

“We’re such a short team that we have to run at a quick tempo to keep up with those taller teams. And we really need to keep our energy up and focus on our defense. We have to make sure our defense is good to be able to dig up those bigger hits from the bigger teams.”

The slightly undersized team also features Greyson Seifert, Mackenzie Alisappi, Nicolas Dalcourt, Davis MacKinnon, Dax Lamoureux, Owen Perron, Brayden Bertrand, Mathieu Berthiaume, Matti Jouppi, Ethan Wheatley, Logyn Bernard, head coach Nathan Squires, assistant coach Cassie MacKinnon and team manager Pam Bazinet.

Back to the SDSSAA tournament circuit for a second as the Champlain Requins, sitting in second place in league play at 6-1 and trailing only Horizon (8-0), took home the banner last Thursday at the Charger Cup. The team went 8-0 in pool play and then ousted Chippewa in the semi-finals and the host Confederation girls in a three set final (25-16, 23-25, 15-12).

Taking a crack at their first ever SDSSAA Division A senior banner are Kelly Clark, Anna Houle, Olivia Nicholls, Kahlan Bellaire, Haven Johnston, Kalie Goudreau, Andrea Bernard, Ella Dionne, Emma Mathieu, Charlotte Castonguay, Abby Laurin, Kaylee Seguin and coaches Guy Perreault, Lindsay Digby, Dan Trepanier and Kaylee Trepanier.