At least we’re starting to have the look and feel of a normal OVA (Ontario Volleyball Association) club season. With the Furlani Cup weekend behind them, the Northern Chill U18 Black Ice girls will set their sights on Bugarski Cup play in early April, solidly entrenched in the Championship flight bracket.

Last month in Woodbridge, the locals secured a fifth place finish in a field of nine teams at the Championship B Furlani Cup event, splitting what amounted to four matches over the course of the day.

In pool play, the Chill girls opened with a 25-19, 25-23 win over the Barrie Elites HP, but could not keep up with Synergy Nitro from Scarborough, beaten 25-9, 25-23. Second place in Pool A always makes for a challenging quarter-final matchup, with the OVA tournament format pitting the Black Ice up against the first place team in Pool C, Durham Attack Black.

And despite faring much better than either of the remaining two opponents in Pool C, the Sudbury reps had to settle for a 20-25, 20-25 setback, taking them out of medal contention on the day.

With one match remaining, the Northern Chill seniors made the best of it, taking down the Barrie Elite HP for a second time, ironically by nearly identical scores of 25-15, 25-23 from their first encounter.

The 2021-2022 edition of the Northern Chill 18U Black-Ice team assembles Kaija Grubber, Erin Wiseman, Mackenzie Selk, Sophie Gaffney, Josée Beauchamp, Alexa Gordon, Haven Fournier, Alexia Lemay-Evans, Kameryn Vanwallegham, Rory Frantz, head coach Sheldon Root and assistant coach Mike Margarit.