Spikers stoked for all-Ontarios

Watch out OFSAA, here they come!
The Muskie senior girls’ volleyball team are on a mission–and that’s to do the best they can at the all-Ontario ‘AA’ tournament which got underway earlier today in Sault Ste. Marie.
“I think we will do well if we play our best,” reasoned head coach Adrian Chapman. “We have to try not to get psyched out–they need to get over the fear of being a team from a small town.”
Chapman said he knows from past experiences at OFSAA that it’s tough to go up against teams at this level of competition.
“What my girls need to realize is that they are good enough to play these teams because they are playing at the same calibre as them,” he stressed.
And he said he’s confident his team will do well if they have they attitude they will do well.
“If that ball can’t touch the floor, you will not lose,” he remarked.
Chapman said the entire team is strong but acknowledged the nucleus is Siobhan Devlin.
“It has been said that we only have one big player but we have a lot of great athletes,” he noted. “We need Kelly [Crawford] to hit and Chrissy [Thomson] to be all over the floor.”
The team also will have to have stamina. Ranked 17th out of the 17-team field, the Muskies are playing in ‘Pool A,’ which is made up of five teams instead of four, including top-ranked Chatham-Kent.
And that means the black-and-gold will have to play four matches today instead of three.
They opened action this morning against fifth-ranked Widdifield and 13th-ranked Sainte Marie. Then they were to play Chatham-Kent at 1:30 p.m. (EST) before wrapping up pool play at 5:15 p.m. versus 12th-ranked Cayuga.
If the Muskies finish first or second in their pool, they will advance to the championship quarter-finals tomorrow at 10 a.m. (EST) against either the first or second-place team from ‘Pool B.’
If they finish third, they’ll advance to the consolation quarter-finals tomorrow at 9 a.m. (EST) against the fourth-place team from ‘Pool B.’
If not, the fourth and fifth-place teams from ‘Pool A’ will square off in a playoff tomorrow at 8 a.m. (EST) to determine which one advances to the consolation quarter-finals against the third-place team from ‘Pool B.’
The loser is eliminated from further contention.
The team also didn’t have much time to rest after their dramatic comeback win over the Hillcrest Spartans in the best-of-three NWOSSAA final there last weekend–heading off to Sault Ste. Marie in two vans Monday afternoon.
As reported in Monday’s Daily Bulletin, the Muskies lost the opening best-of-five match on Friday night but then rebounded with a pair of 3-0 wins Saturday to clinch the gold medal and OFSAA berth.
They took the morning match by scores of 25-13, 25-22, and 25-19, then won the afternoon one 25-20, 25-20, and 25-22.
“It [the win] felt really good, it still feels really good,” said Chapman, who added he had given the team a pep talk back at the hotel after Friday’s loss and they were ready to go the next day.
“When I saw they were winning, I already started thinking about OFSAA. I was at a loss for words,” he recalled.