Gillons’ completes decade of dominance

Bo Derek has nothing on these perfect 10s.
Gillons’ closed an amazing decade-long run last Thursday night by winning their 10th-consecutive Fort Frances Women’s Volleyball League title at Fort High, downing regular-season champion Scared Hitless 2-1 in the deciding best-of-three series.
After coming within a game of being eliminated in their semi-final match-up with the Wildcats earlier in the night, Gillons’ found their A-game just in time and survived a seven-game, three-hour marathon to lay claim to the crown once again.
“[Ten] certainly is a nice round number,” said a relieved Candy Greengrass of Gillons’, whose service ace deflected off a Scared Hitless back row defender for the title-clinching point in a 25-21 victory in the third and deciding game.
“We’ve kind of been lacking this year. We lost some players, and picked up some others,” she noted. “But tonight, things just felt right for the first time all season.”
After finishing third after the regular season, Gillons’ entered the playoffs as the underdog for the first time in recent memory.
Upon surviving the opening round of the double-elimination format, the defending champs found themselves lined up against the upstart Wildcats, who had finished sixth in the regular season but had ousted the fifth-place Power Paks and second-place Die Hards the previous week.
The ferocious felines had their eyes trained on a third-straight surprise when they tripped up Gillons’ 26-24 in the opener of the two-game total-points semi-final.
But Gillons’ recovered to post a 25-18 victory and move on to the final.
Scared Hitless needed only to win one best-of-three clash against Gillons’, who required two-straight match victories over the league’s No. 1-ranked team.
With 25-22 and 25-18 wins in the first match, Gillons’ extended the playoff to a climactic ending, which saw the other teams and spectators on hand lending their vocal support to Scared Hitless in an effort to topple the Gillons’ dynasty.
Scared Hitless jumped to a 17-12 lead in the opening game of the final series. But former Muskie player (and present junior girls’ coach) Laureen Hill flashed her old playing form by drilling five service points in a row to even things up, as Gillons’ rode the momentum to a 25-21 win.
A roller-coaster of a second set saw Gillons’ break open an 11-10 game with a 7-0 run that made it 18-10. But after calling time-out, Scared Hitless went on a 10-0 tear of their own to grab a 20-18 lead.
Gillons’ tied the game to move within five points of the championship, but Scared Hitless held firm to take the second game 25-22—forcing the deciding game.
With a 15-14 lead in the third, Gillons’ put together a 5-2 run that had them out front to stay at 20-16. Greengrass then applied the finishing touch—without even being aware she was doing it.
“I didn’t even know it was game point when I went to serve it,” she admitted with a smile afterwards. “And no, I wasn’t aiming it there, either.
“It’s been a long time that I’ve played that much in one night,” she laughed. “Age has finally caught up with me.”
Greengrass said the long road to the title this season against increasingly better competition made this year’s victory even sweeter.
“Scared Hitless was well deserved to make the final, they were just unreal all year,” she lauded. “[The level of competition] was unreal this year. You wouldn’t even believe it.
“Anybody could have won the playoffs.”