By Dan Plouffe
Led by the Giséle-Lalonde Titans’ third consecutive ‘AAA’ title, local high school girls’ volleyball teams flexed their muscles to the max and achieved an almost unfathomable performance as all six Ottawa schools participating in OFSAA championships walked away with medals from their respective March 4-6 tournaments.
The Louis-Riel Rebelles won silver at the ‘A’ championships in Lakefield, the Franco-Cité Faucons took ‘AAA’ bronze in Windsor, the Glebe Gryphons earned ‘AAAA’ antique-bronze for fourth place in Mississauga, and all three national capital entries from Giséle-Lalonde, De La Salle and Samuel-Genest reached the ‘AA’ semi-finals in Ottawa.
“We couldn’t ask for better than this,” smiles convenor Yves Leroux, also an assistant to his brother Yan, De La Salle’s head coach. “We had a lot of comments from other coaches saying, ‘What a gym. What a crowd.’ It was really fun.”
For the undisputed queens of OFSAA girls’ volleyball, the Titans’ third provincial crown in a row was perhaps the most unexpected. The team struggled early and finished just 6-4 in regular season league play. With a pile of graduates from last year’s champion team, the new players didn’t immediately gel.
“About a month ago, they blended together and I knew I had a team,” recounts coach Marcel Martin, who was awestruck by the fact his school managed to win for a third time in a row. “I didn’t know if I had a winning team, but I knew I had a team.”
What he also had in his back pocket was a dominant trio of seniors – the powerful hitting tandem of sisters Rebecca and Sabrina Roy, and their surrogate sister at setter, Catharine Loranger.
“I trust them, I love them, I set them, and they always score. We have that chemistry,” describes Loranger, emotion evident in her voice and her eyes as she spoke of her connection with the Roys. “We’re like sisters. We’re neighbours and we’ve known each other since we were young. We’ve grown up together. It’s like family.”
Once the Titans got rolling and pulled out a 25-22 first set win in the gold medal match against Windsor’s General Amherst, there was no stopping them. Giséle-Lalonde’s superior energy and momentum carried them on to 25-13 and 25-20 set wins to earn the three-peat.
“This is the best one,” says Loranger. “It’s in my hometown and this is my last year in high school. It feels awesome. I love it.”
With eight graduating players, the De La Salle Cavaliers also got to take away a lasting moment from their high school volleyball adventures. Having endured a tough four-set defeat to Giséle-Lalonde in the semi-finals just two hours earlier, coach Yan Leroux simply wanted to see his bright group of girls smile again before their bronze medal match. So he pulled out a team photo of when they all started playing together in Grade 7 and 8.
“It pumped the girls up, and wow,” marvels Yves Leroux, whose girls went on to defeat Samuel-Genest for the first time this year, in straight sets no less. “They did it in front of a packed house. What a show. What a final memory, man.”
The Cavaliers’ star, Kaly Soro, agrees.
“It’s very nice to end off my senior year here, where it all began. And we had a great last game – way to go out with a bang,” underlines the future University of Ottawa Gee-Gees player. “We had all our fans, all our friends and family here to support us. All the teachers, the principal came out, and we proved to them that what we do every practice every morning turned out great.”
Despite the defeat earlier in the day to the Titans, Soro and her De La Salle teammates were in their arch-rivals’ corner nonetheless in the championship match, cheering them on from the stands.
“They deserve it. They honestly deserve it,” highlights Soro, who plays on the same Maverick club volleyball team as the Roy sisters. “They work their butt off, and why not cheer for an Ottawa team? They represent our region, so kudos to them.”
Several other Ottawa teams and athletes also earned OFSAA championship medals – the St. Patrick Irish won ‘AAA’ boys’ basketball silver and the Ashbury Colts took ‘A’ boys’ basketball antique bronze, while Immaculata’s Monica Slobozianu won gold and South Carleton earned four team podium finishes at OFSAA alpine skiing.