Sickness and injury may have relegated the Castor Crush U15 girls' volleyball team to the B finals at the Alberta U15 Girls' Premier 2 Tournament, but it didn't stop them from taking the gold in that division.
The tournament, held March 12-13, saw the Crush — a team made of girls from Gus Wetter, Donalda, Erksine and William E. Hay schools — compete in Calgary. The team was down to seven players after it was learned that the team's captain was out with the flu.
"Naturally, the news came as a shock," Don Seale, the team coach, said. "Tamara (Ball) is a key component to our team, and provides needed leadership to our younger players. Consequently, we didn't fare as well as we might on day one."
A rough set of games on Saturday saw the girls having to play one of the strongest Edmonton teams Sunday morning in the quarter-finals. The team — F.O.G — had beaten two teams in their round-robin that had flattened the Crush the day before.
Ball returned for Sunday, a bit weaker for her brush with the flu, but her presence motivated the team and gave them the energy to beat the F.O.G. in three sets.
Sunday was a complete turn-around from the previous day, as the next game was also a three straight-set victory over the A.C.V.C. Airdrie.
"In those two victories, the girls showed the skill and determination to come from behind and win," Seale said. "I'd been expecting this, and the timing was right."
The Finals were no easier, pitting the Crush against a powerful team from Dawson Creek.
"I remember not feeling overly concerned after losing the first game in the Finals (25-15)," said Seale. "I'd seen our girls overcome adversity before, and fully expected they'd pull together from that point. I was a bit surprised to see how convincingly they did it." The Crush won a close second set (25-22), and then pulled away in the third (15-8) to take the B-Final gold.