A relatively new offering in the competitive landscape of the Ontario Volleyball Association, the two-day Fall Classic Provincial Cup series provides a wonderful early season barometer for club teams who have aspirations to take aim a top-ten provincial rankings.
Count the Northern Chill 18U Subzero girls within this group.
Competing in Ottawa two weekends ago, the locals were part of a 24 team field broken into four pools of six, as the Sudbury crew recorded mixed results in their five preliminary round games.
Displaying a few morning jitters, the Chill overcame an opening set loss to Synergy from Scarborough, earning a split (15-25, 25-22) and maintaining that up and down trend with 1-1 marks against both the Storm Typhoon from Aurora (21-25, 25-22) and the South County Bandits National from Windsor (22-25, 25-16).
In likely their best performance of the day, the Subzero crew unleashed a complete team effort, sweeping past the Ottawa Fusion 25-21, 25-12 but closing out pool play the next morning with a loss to the powerful Maverick Bandits 16-25, 22-25, also from the nation’s capital. An overall record of 5-5 left the northern squad in fourth place in a pool of six, part of the Select B playoff bracket.
Facing a very familiar foe in their first playoff match, the locals survived a sluggish middle set in getting past the Barrie Elites 25-15, 23-25, 15-11. A very evenly matched final four battle (in their bracket) would see the K-W Predators (Kitchener-Waterloo) outlast the Northern Chill 25-22, 9-25, 15-8, relegating assistant coach Kevin Wiseman and company to a bronze medal game.
Behind the strong defense and passing of Fannie Gauthier and Marley Tremblay, Subzero would return home with some hardware, downing Pakmen from Mississauga 25-15, 25-13. Also earning accolades from Wiseman for their play earlier in the tournament were Abby Laporte (strong outside hitting, notably in the first few games) and Acadia-commit Mia Lemay-Evans, the middle coming up particularly big in the grudge match with Barrie.
The balance of the 2023-2024 Northern Chill 18U Subzero roster is comprised of Kate Rolston, Aly Nicholls, Olivia Nicholls, Mia Robson and Shae St Onge, as well as head coach Sheldon Root and team manager Sarah Kealy.
