Irish fall in SOSSA volleyball semifinals
Notre Dame’s hopes for a Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association AAA senior girls volleyball title ended Tuesday morning with a 3-0 loss to Westdale.
The Fighting Irish, who advanced to the SOSSA championships by defeating Greater Fort Erie Gryphons 3-1 in the Zone 3 final, lost 25-13, 25-17 and 25-15 at Sir Winston Churchill to the defending SOSSA champions from Westdale.
Notre Dame power Emily Foest, who was selected as the Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s Player of the Game, was happy with how her team played in the SOSSA semifinal.
“It was a tough game because we don’t have too many rep players on our team, but we played pretty good because they have a lot of good players on their team,” the 15-year-old said. “We held our own.”
Notre Dame head coach Ryan DeFoe was impressed with Westdale.
“They put a lot of pressure on us from all sides and we had extreme difficulty for the first couple of games controlling the middle of the court,” he said. “We made a little bit of an adjustment to get Emily into the middle and it was starting to work, but it was too little, too late.”
Notre Dame finished first in Niagara Catholic Athletic Association league play this season.
“We hustle a lot and try our hardest,” Foest said. “Even if we are down by a lot, we think we can come back. We always have a positive attitude and that really helps.”
DeFoe was more than happy with his team’s season.
“We won SOSSA at junior last year and it’s pretty much the same team,” he said, “It’s a young team made up of quite a few Grade 10s.”
DeFoe describes the evolution of the Notre Dame senior girls volleyball program as a three-act play.
“Act 1 ends well, Act 2 you sometime face adversity and Act 3 hopefully we do well next year with everyone in Grade 11 and 12.”
Because of the school and bus cancellations, Notre Dame is still waiting to play in the NCAA championship against Denis Morris. That match has yet to be scheduled.
Notre Dame is led by Foest, who is a top player on Notre Dame’s volleyball and basketball teams. She was named to three high school all-star basketball teams this past season, but chose to pursue volleyball over basketball in Grade 7.
“I was on a really good basketball team so it was really hard to pick what I wanted to pursue,” she said. “I always thought I was better at volleyball than basketball and I always thought I would get further. And volleyball runs in my family and it’s a family tradition.”
Her father, Marvin, played at the Ontario university level.
The Grade 10 student obviously made the right choice. She plays for the Halton Hurricanes on its 17 and under team and that squad is playing Division 1 Tier 1 at both the 17 and under and 18 and under-18 levels.
“I am hoping to get a full scholarship to a school in America, hopefully make the national team this summer and, after university, go pro.”
She was invited to try out for the national team last summer, but didn’t crack the roster. She is hoping that experience will help at this year’s tryouts.
“I needed to be more consistent because I was a little off sometimes,” she said. “This season, I have been a lot more consistent with my play and I have improved a lot of things.”
DeFoe loves what Foest brings to the court.
“She is a very, very special player,” he said. “Aside from her being an unbelievable hitter and strong in all phases of the game, she has great court vision and she is really smart.”
DeFoe is impressed with how Foest is able to balance school basketball and volleyball with her intense club volleyball schedule.
“I am surprised that she doesn’t just collapse some day and she is pretty special in that way,” he said. “Everyone on our team is pretty special that way too. They are really great people to coach.”
Other members of the Notre Dame team are Brooke Atamanyk, Sophia D’Agostino, Jenna Hamann, Allison Kerho, Thea Lawson, Karlene Olsen, Abbey Pastirik, Makenna Patten, Abigale Phillips, Jordan Rainville, Taylor Smith and Kayley Wall.
