OFSAA trip fun for team

The all-Ontario championship is what every high school athlete dreams of–the road trips, teamwork, fighting for top honours in their respective sport, and competing with the province’s best.
And certainly the Muskie senior girls’ volleyball team brought home memories they’ll never forget. For seniors who won’t be returning next year, the trip to OFSAA was about more than winning.
“It is sad,” admitted Kelly Crawford, who played her final games as a Muskie at the all-Ontarios in Sault Ste. Marie last week.
“I have been here for five years and I am glad it [my last game] was at OFSAA. This will be my best memory of high school,” she added.
Siobhan Devlin, who will continue to play volleyball at the post-secondary level next year, also said she was happy her last game was at the all-Ontarios.
“It’s wicked good that we have played our last game here.”
Marsha Walsh said being able to come to OFSAA without any real pressure was nice. Winning the consolation crown was just an added bonus.
“Being able to come here with the whole team and have no real pressure [was awesome],” she remarked. “Just being here with the other teams . . . proved we were allowed to be here.”
Linda Zimmerman, who played in her first game all season at the provincials, said the best part for her was just being able to play.
“Getting my first block in the third game over Chatham-Kent was the best part,” she enthused.
Some of the other girls said they’ll remember winning that one game against Chatham-Kent last Wednesday afternoon the most. “Almost beating the number-one seeded team was pretty sweet,” said Tammy Johnson.
Devlin agreed she wanted to beat the Golden Hawks more than any other team there. “I wanted to kick their [butt],” she stressed.
Some admitted they were nervous and that’s why the started out on such a rough note, losing 2-0 in their opening best-of-three match against the Widdifield Wildcats.
“It was nerves. We didn’t know what to expect,” reasoned Ashley McFarland.
Allison Hyatt agreed nerves had a lot to do with how they played in the first few games. But she added once they got into the swing of things, they started to play better.
“We played way better after the second and third games–we had more confidence,” she said.
Devlin said she thought the other teams at OFSAA would be better than they were and stressed there was no reason the Muskies didn’t beat them.
“We wanted to beat them,” she explained. “But we didn’t think we could.”
Devlin said it’s different to play teams you know because you know what to expect, “like we know what Kenora and Dryden are going to do [in the games].”