With Northern Chill Volleyball Club talent spread over high-schools right across the city, many are suggesting that the 2025-2026 SDSSAA Senior Girls Volleyball season may rank as one of the most competitive ever.
Heading into the Christmas break, league standings show three teams currently sporting undefeated records: Lo-Ellen Park Knights (5-0); Horizon Aigles (4-0); Confederation Chargers (4-0) – and yet it’s not all that difficult at all to find close followers of the sport who would suggest that the Lockerby Vikings (3-1) might actually hold serve as current favourites to capture their first championship banner in 14 years.
And with the Marymount Regals (3-2) having taken both Confederation and Horizon to five set tilts in the first half of the schedule, playoff dates in mid-February will make for must see volleyball.
Wednesday night at Lockerby Composite, a back and forth affair saw the Knights emerge with a 19-25, 25-15, 16-25, 25-23, 16-14 victory in a match that they trailed 8-2 midway through the fifth and deciding set.
“During the timeouts, they (coaches Heather Walker and Sherry Green) reminded us of what we were doing well – and then suggested what we could be doing better,” noted 16 year-old left-side hitter Caelyn Mahoney.
A key cog in a Lo-Ellen attack that at various times featured Lara Gray, Adelina Naghi, Jayda McKee and Bella MacIsaac on the receiving end of sets from Madisyn Vendetti, Mahoney believes that success can be equal parts technical skill and team morale in tight matches such as this.
“We’re really focusing on our defense this year – and having a lot of positivity and energy on the court, cheering each other on,” said the veteran of the Chill 17U Black Cyclones. “But defense is really the start of each play. Without your pass, you can’t set anything up.”
Blessed with a size advantage at the net, Lockerby looked, at times, more than ready to take control of this south-end battle, with provincial team talent Cassidy Warren leading a crew that would see the likes of Rayen Cabezas, Lilah Selby and Brinley Evans getting the ball to the floor on a Vikings team that can run a double-setter formation with both Maili Jutila and Rebecca George in the fold.
Though the Lockerby arsenal could leave the Knights scambling at times, it also created those momentum bursts where a saved ball of the defensive side gives way to an even lengthier rally – and to one of those points that just seem to carry a little more weight on the scoreboard.
“It’s a really big boost,” acknowledged Mahoney. “It gets the team all hyped. It’s actually kind of funny to see your teammates throw themselves around in such weird ways. That just brings everyone up.”
Key matchups will welcome the teams back for league play in early January, a month that also features pre-playoff tournament tuneups in North Bay (Scarlett & Gold) as well as at Confederation Secondary and CVDCS (Chelsmford Valley District Composite School).
“The league is so wide open,” noted Mahoney. “It’s so much fun and it keeps it so competitive. We’re always trying to push to get that next point because you know it can go either way at the end of the day.”
Both the Horizon Aigles (two-time league champs) and the Champlain Requins (two-time league finalists) have graduated some impressive talent through to the post-secondary ranks, with the lineage of gold medal winning teams before them reading as follows: Confederation (2022); no champion crowned – Covid (2021); Lo-Ellen (2020); College Notre-Dame (2019).