Bulldogs in hunt for OFSAA gold
The host Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs roared into the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AA girls volleyball semifinals with a dominating 3-0 (25-12, 25-14 and 25-7) victory Tuesday evening over the Westgate Collegiate Tigers from Thunder Bay.
The two teams fought nothing like cats and dogs as the Bulldogs continued to roll. Churchill has now won 11 straight sets since dropping their opener Monday morning in pool play.
“We played really well this morning and it led into this game,” Churchill head coach Brent Mergl said, of the quarter-final. “The girls came out on fire and it was nice to see. They are gaining confidence in themselves and when they become confident in themselves, it spreads throughout the team.
“We talk about wanting the ball in pressure situations and not looking to someone else to make good plays. They have to want to make good plays.”
Mergl is hoping for more good plays in Wednesday’s 11 a.m. semifinal at Churchill versus third-seeded Thomas A. Blakelock.
“It is all dictated by how we warm up. If we get a good warmup, we play better.”
Before the tournament started, he was confident the second-seeded Bulldogs would advance to the semifinals.
“Pool play is always a little bit tricky because teams are a little bit tighter but as long as we took care of our business in pool play, I knew the crossover would be a little bit better for us because you get the two seed from the other pool,” he said. “We did our homework on them. They are a nice team and our game plan worked perfectly.”
Churchill made it to the OFSAA quarter-finals in 2020.
“We are above and beyond that,” Mergl said. “We are happy tonight but it is back to work tomorrow.”
Motivating the Bulldogs all tournament has been team captain Sam Cormier.
“The girls really respond to her because she is so positive and so energetic. When she is on her hitting, you can’t really stop her,” Mergl said. “It is her leadership that has developed over the season and the girls really follow her.”
The 6-foot-2 player is thrilled to be playing for the Bulldogs this season after missing last year with a dislocated kneecap.
“This year, I got to come back and training with these girls has made me better than ever,” she said. “I was so excited to play with them and it is such a fun team.”
It’s a fun and talented team that is playing its best volleyball at the perfect time.
“It is our relationship in general. All of the girls are super close and it makes us all push so much for each other and work that much harder when we are on and off the court,” Cormier said.
The Niagara Rapids travel player has taken her leadership role on the team seriously.
“Mergl came to me at the start of the season and told me he thought I would be great for the role. I embraced it and I love that he picked me as captain. I was like ‘I am going to do this job to the fullest and hopefully get these girls an OFSAA win.’ I want to do whatever I can to help get them through that journey.”
Cormier, fellow starter Megan Barker and bench players Brooklyn Keltos and Kate Smyth are on quite the journey. All four were starters on Churchill’s basketball team that won OFSAA AA gold in the fall and they have a chance to add to that amazing legacy. Cormier isn’t looking past any team but she has thought about that possibility.
“It is definitely a surreal feeling and it gives me nerves but at the same time it makes me more excited to play and just do the best that I can for these girls.”
It has been an exciting few weeks for Cormier. A few weeks ago, she verbally committed to play at Niagara College..
“I wanted to sign somewhere and I am thrilled to go to Niagara.”
She feels it is the perfect place for her post-secondary career.
“They have a really good team and the environment there is amazing,” the 17-year-old said. “I hung out with the girls a little but and their connection is kind of like what we have here at Sir Winston. It’s amazing. They are super happy and super lovable and as soon as I walked into their facility I knew I needed to go there. It was home for me.”
The other Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association representative, E.L. Crossley, lost 2-1 (25-20, 18-25 and 10-15) to top-seeded North Star High School and then won 2-0 (25-16 and 25-17) versus 16th-seeded Bishop Maraca/Thomas Merton the Cyclone Tuesday.
The 2-2 pool play record placed Crossley into the consolation quarter-finals where it recorded a 3-1 victory (25-10, 22-25, 25-13 and 26-24) over St. James. The Cyclone will play King City in the consolation semifinals at 9 a.m. at Governor Simcoe.
At the OFSAA A championships, the eighth-seeded Saint-Jean-de-Brébeuf Lynx completed pool play at 2-2 following a 2-0 (25-18 and 25-5) victory over Delhi Secondary School.
In the consolation quarter-finals, the hosts defeated St. François Xavier 3-0 (25-18, 25-13 and 25-12) to advance to the semifinals. The Lynx will play Nouvelle Alliance at Canada Games Park Wednesday at 9 a.m.
