By Dan Plouffe
The Maverick Volleyball Club has been testing out a few unconventional approaches this year, but its teams are showing that the strategies are worthwhile and they now have the hardware to prove it.
It started earlier this season with the Mavericks’ podium sweep at a 16-and-under girls’ regional tournament and it continued with the 17U boys’ victory two weekends ago at the 48-team Nittany invitational tournament at Penn State University.
For the 16U girls, the unusual strategy was not dividing their pool of players at the age into three separate squads immediately – instead, they played with different teammates at different events early in the season.
For the 17U boys, it was a curious on-court technique that they employed – frequently using their libero to set from the back row.
“It made sense. Everyone can hit except for that one player, so why not have them set?” explains 17U coach Karch MacLean, noting libero Thomas Marshall stepped into the role well at the tournament. “It’s part of our offence now.”
But MacLean says the reason for the tournament victory was really all about team defence.
“Our mantra for the weekend was, ‘Never say die,’” recounts the 25-year-old son of Mavs president Kerry MacLean, who will be retiring from teaching at Colonel By Secondary School next year. “They were chasing balls, sacrificing themselves to keep balls alive, and I think that’s really what did it.”
Left-side Phil Piché agrees that defence made the difference, especially in the playoff round. After taking down an upstate New York team in the semi-finals 24-26, 27-25, 15-10, the Maverick Desperados found themselves in another three-setter against a Chicago team for the title.
“Physically, you could tell we were really getting tired. It was our fifth match of the day, so we were really feeling fatigued,” notes Piché, whose squad won a do-or-die match in power pool play to reach the championship round. “But mentally, we were still very focused.”
After 21 sets, the Mavs still couldn’t get enough volleyball as they battled to a 15-15 tie in the final set of the championship game. But that simply set a perfect stage for Piché to land an ace between two opponents to win the title.
“I wasn’t really aiming for an ace, but my coach gave me the spot and it turned out,” recounts Piché, whose team won the club’s first-ever championship at the tournament. “It was exciting. It was like, ‘Wow, we just won Penn State.’”
What also kept the team going was the encouragement they received from the 18U boys’ Mavericks, who were able to watch the younger team’s final since their own tournament was in the books following a quarter-final defeat.
“That was really impressive to see,” MacLean highlights. “They were cheering for us really hard and gave the guys that much more energy to keep going.”
As remarkable as it was to top Canadian and U.S. opponents alike, the Mavs will nonetheless have to win their way back into the top tier of provincial tournaments since they skipped an Ontario event to make the trip and face opponents with different styles of play.
But the plan remains to get to another final come provincials in mid-April.
“Everyone’s hoping for gold,” MacLean smiles, identifying team depth as another crucial weapon in his team’s success, especially when playing a lot of matches in a short timeframe. “We hope by the end we’ll be firing on all cylinders because everyone will be rested and everyone will have played.”