By Nick Faris
The Maverick Mustangs 18-and-under boys scored the city’s best result at the Ontario volleyball championships, winning a silver medal in Waterloo on the last weekend of April.
Having entered the 18U championships as the fourth seed, the Mavericks pulled off two consecutive playoff upsets to advance to the provincial final. Their semi-final victory came against the top-ranked Mississauga Pakmen – a team the Mavericks hadn’t beaten in four years, noted head coach François St-Denis.
“We got some pretty significant wins,” St-Denis said. “Unfortunately, I think we ran out of fuel getting to the finals, but it was a great run nonetheless.”
The Mavericks finished 5-1 in round-robin play, dropping just two total sets through the tournament’s first round. The third-seeded LVC Fire Heat of London won the championship game in a two-set sweep after outlasting the Mavericks in three sets earlier in the weekend. Mavericks setter Eric Funston and right-side hitter Nicolas Pirnat were both named to the tournament all-star team, with Pirnat earning the individual honor for the second straight year.
St-Denis tabbed his team’s depth as the key to the silver medal push. No sequence exemplified the Mavericks’ resilience better than the late moments of their semi-final win after Funston was forced from the game with a calf cramp.
“I played our second setter, and he did phenomenal,” St-Denis said. “A lot of these little things made a significant difference. I thought our depth showed more than the other teams.”
Eight of St-Denis’ 12 players have already committed to playing volleyball at the university or collegiate level next year. Before moving on, they’ll compete at the national championships in Edmonton from May 10-12. After claiming a national silver medal in 2012, St-Denis said his team is seeking a return to the podium.
“Historically, it’s been tougher at provincials than nationals,” he said. “At nationals, the teams we play, we haven’t seen all that much – and it often pays off for us because we’re usually a bit of a better ball-control team than some of those other teams.”
Shaky ball control prevented another Ottawa team from claiming a provincial medal. The Ottawa Fusion Red 17U boys finished fourth at their April 19-21 Ontario championships.
After narrowly topping the LVC Fire in the quarterfinals – prevailing 19-17 in the third and deciding set – the Fusion were hamstrung by unforced errors in the semis, falling 25-21, 26-24 to the Mississauga Pakmen.
“We missed 20 serves and lost by a combined score of six points,” said Fusion head coach Colin Walker, whose team fell to Guelph in three sets playing for bronze. “If we had put half of those serves and converted half of them into points, we would have won the match.”
Like St-Denis’ Mavericks 18U squad, the Fusion will return to nationals as the defending Canadian silver medalists. They’ll strive for a steadier performance in Edmonton.
“Last year we put everything together at the right time,” Walker said. “This year, getting to the quarterfinals is definitely our goal. From there, medalling would be our next goal.”
The Mavericks Outlaws and Trailblazers both reached the quarter-finals in the 16U girls’ event, while Maverick teams also made the quarters in 15U boys, 14U boys, and 17U girls.