The Northern Chill 16U Heat Wave girls capped off an incredible season which saw the unit earn medals at no less than five different tournaments, including a pair of 17U playdowns as well as 16U provincials.

Beginning the 2025-2026 season at #22 in Ontario, the northern outfit inched their way up a couple of slots to #19, walking off with bronze in Division 1 Tier 3 action at the Enercare Centre along the lakefront in Toronto last month.

Just outside of the top 16 as the Ontario Championships began, the Chill Heat Wave posted a winning record on both days one and two – but still not quite good enough to move into the top bracket in the province.

The Sudbury girls got the ball rolling on Thursday, sandwiching victories over the Venom Prime from Richmond Hill (26-24, 25-18) and the Maverick Wildcards from Ottawa (26-24, 25-23) around a tough loss to the Smash Raiders Fire from Hamilton – Waterdown, 20-25, 19-25.

The northern reps followed a very similar script on Friday, sweeping aside the South County Bandits National Spartans from Windsor (25-16, 25-20), coming up short against Forest City Volleyball Club from London (21-25, 22-25) but closing off on a winning note against the Venom Valour (Richmond Hill), 29-27, 25-23.

Slotted into the third bracket of eight teams in Division 1 for playoff Saturday, the Northern Chill U16 team outlasted the Maverick Wildcards for a second time (25-13, 15-25, 16-14) but were on the losing end of a semi-final battle with the Niagara Rapids Riptide (20-25-, 21-25) before tying a bow (sort of) of a wonderful season with a 25-20, 25-23 bronze medal triumph over the Venom Valour.

We say “sort of” because the Heat Wave are one of six Chill teams who will be making the trek to nationals (an open tournament available to any group interested in entering), joining TLS Blue and the TLS Boys, as well as the 15U Blizzards (boys), 17U Black Cyclones (girls) and 18U Glaciers (boys) later this month.

The Chill 16U Heat Wave lineup for the 2025-2026 season features Aviahna Cocchiola, Lisa Ngouabe, Kylie Breau, Morgan Gauvreau, Julia Moulaison, Brinley Evans, Naima-Bella Tverdal, Savannah Farinha, Alexie Houle and Macie Barlow.

The team staff is comprised of head coach James Gauvreau, assistant coach Jason Evans and team manager Heather Evans.