Mavericks place pair of 17U teams in provincial final-8

By Josh Wegman

They didn’t hoist a trophy as champions, but there probably isn’t an accomplishment coaches and leaders of the Maverick Volleyball Club could treasure much more than what a pair of their teams achieved at the April 11-13 Ontario Volleyball Association championships in Waterloo.

Two Mavs 17-and-under girls’ squads – named the Gold Rush and the Blackjacks – reached the quarter-final round against the province’s best, with the Gold Rush taking home a bronze medal.

“The goal of the Mavericks is to get as many of these athletes in a position to compete for a post-secondary position,” explains Gold Rush coach and Mavs competitive director John Spack.

When the group of 17U girls were younger, they actually had three teams’ worth of players, Spack details. Defying traditional wisdom, the club didn’t field ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ teams with all the best players stacked on the top squad. Instead, they mixed up their lineups throughout season, all in the name of developing numerous well-rounded players.

As they now compete in the higher levels of the game, the Gold Rush tilted towards a more powerful group, but the Blackjacks managed to nonetheless hold their own against Ontario’s best despite being “thinner on talent than most of the top teams,” says their coach, Bruce Dunning.

Both teams practice and train together on a regular basis, however “the makeup of our teams is totally different,” indicates Spack, who carries strong right-side and middle players Savannah de Groot and Alina Dormann, while the Blackjacks possess strong setting and left-sides with Olivia Witteveen and Megan Kuciak.

“When we end up playing each other it looks like two completely different teams,” Spack adds.

Overcoming the awkward familiarity between the two has been a challenge for both sides when they meet head-to-head, but it would be a “dream scenario,” Dunning says, if the teams were to meet at their May 9-11 national championships in Edmonton.

“We’ve been on the winning end of our four matchups,” Spack notes, “but as the season went on the gaps closed and the matches got closer – some of them went three close sets.

“There’s probably a bit more experience on my team but both groups have really progressed during the year – certainly a credit to their focus and work on and off the court.”

Mavs medal & worlds qualifier
In Sherbrooke, Que., the Mavs 15U boys’ team followed up its provincial title with a silver medal performance at the Eastern Canadian Championships May 2-4.

Ottawa native Adam Simac and the Canadian men’s volleyball team will host a continental qualification tournament for September’s FIVB World Championships in Poland from May 16-19 at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga.

The 30-year-old Team Canada middle will also compete in World League home matches May 31 and June 1 against Finland in Calgary, June 13 and 14 against Belgium in Vancouver and June 20 and 21 against Australia in Edmonton.