Bulldogs win clash of volleyball titans
The Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs senior boys volleyball team celebrated Wednesday like it had won an Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association’s gold medal.
The reason for the jubilation by the reigning OFSAA AAA silver medalists was a 3-2 victory (25-20, 23-25, 21-25, 25-23, 15-11) over the Eden Flyers, the reigning OFSAA AA silver medalists and the winners of 13 straight medals at the provincial high school championships.
“The boys came out and played hard,” Churchill coach Brent Mergl said. “They didn’t play very well Monday night and they played inspired tonight and it was a good win.”
On Monday night, the Bulldogs lost their first set to Laura Secord before rallying for the victory.
“They learned a lesson about coming mentally prepared.”
Few Bulldogs were more excited about the win than setter Andrew Song.
“Most of these guys (Churchill players) play on my club team and they always talk trash and say ‘We are going to wreck you guys.’ Since Grade 9, we haven’t beat them (In league play) and I just wanted to beat them so bad in the regular season,” the Grade 11 student said. “I was happy that we finally did it.”
Song played a key role Wednesday and does so in every match for the Bulldogs.
“He is the nuts and bolts of the team,” Mergl said. “He has to run the offence, he has to deal with bad passes, he’s running a mile some days and some days he just has to make the right choices.
“He has really done well this year.”
In his second year as setter on the senior team, the 16-year-old is feeling a lot more comfortable in the role.
“Last year I was younger and the guys were a lot bigger too,” he said. “I wasn’t use to it, but now that it’s my second year, I am much more use to it.”
Mergl is happy where the Bulldogs are at this point in the season.
“We won an OFSAA medal last year and the kids are buying in to what we are selling,” he said. “Both the boys and girls programs are doing well. The kids are having fun and it’s like one big family.”
Song feels the Bulldogs are a different squad this season.
“Last year, everyone was saying we only had one guy and I set to him a lot, but this year I feel the offence is more spread out and we are starting to jell as a team.”
Eden head coach Bill Markham enjoyed Wednesday’s match.
“It was a very good match and that is the best I have seen them (Churchill) play,” he said. “That’s a credit to their coach because he has them in really good form right now. They played outstanding.”
Eden has won 14 straight Zone 4 AA titles and Markham likes how his team is trending.
“We were trying a couple of things tonight and that will help us,” he said. “We realize today is just a step towards OFSAA and I am very confident in this group of guys.
“They are talented, hard-working and they have a lot of heart, so I’m not worried.”
Eden has already won a number of tournaments this year, most notably the University of Waterloo tourney which includes AA and AAA squads.
“We’ve been competing really well and we won our tournament and a couple of others.”
Markham loves that Churchill challenged his team Thursday.
“You try to tell the guys in the middle of it that it is great that they are getting pushed, because they get to see what they are made of,” he said. “For me, at this point of the season it’s not about results as much as about how you respond after being pushed like that.
“I have to give a lot of credit to Sir Winston. They played very, very well.”
