Westdale Churchill’s nemesis once again
For the second straight year, the Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs senior girls volleyball team saw its season end at the hands of the Westdale Warriors.
After opening the Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association playdowns in their home gym with a 3-0 (26-24, 25-13 and 25-18) victory over the Thorold Golden Eagles, the Bulldogs fell 3-1 (25-23, 20-25, 25-21 and 25-22) to Westdale in the final.
“We played well,” Churchill coach Brent Mergl said. “I knew it would come down to serving and passing and we just missed too many serves in the last game and didn’t pass as well as we had to.”
In both the third and fourth games, Churchill fell behind early and couldn’t claw its way all the way back. In the third game, they trailed 12-6 and cut the lead to 15-14 but couldn’t get any closer. In the fourth game, the Bulldogs trailed 14-6 and couldn’t draw any nearer than two points behind.
“Every game we got behind and usually we are really resilient and find a way to win,” Mergl said. “Today, we didn’t.”
Despite the season-ending loss, he is pleased with the growth and development of the Churchill volleyball program.
“We pulled up a lot of the young kids and I thought they did well,” Mergl said. “The future looks great. We have some good Grade 8s coming in.
“We lose three seniors, three starters, but the girls coming up should fill the void and we will be OK.”
One of those graduating seniors that Mergl will miss is Grade 12 libero Georgia Kruck.
“She has a lot of heart, she’s determined, she works extremely hard and there’s not enough hours in the day for her to practise,” he said.
Kruck, named the Mick and Angelo’s/Johnny Rocco’s Player of the Game, admitted as she as having a hard time with the end of her Bulldog volleyball career.
“It’s tough,” she said. “I am having trouble taking it (uniform) off. I don’t know when I am going to take it off, but not now.”
Playing for her school meant a lot to her.
“It was playing every ball put to the whistle and I love all the girls,” she said. “We played so hard and we really did the best that we could.
“We really thought that we were going to beat them, but they are a great team.”
Kruck was proud of her team’s performance Tuesday.
“It was a fight and that’s all you could ask for,” she said. “Do your best and it will lead you where you should be.”
She played two years of junior volleyball and two years of senior ball at Churchill and saw a lot of progress as the school continues to build its volleyball program and culture.
“We have a volleyball class here now and the training has become a lot more intense,” she said. “And we really progressed as a team. Everyone skyrocketed with their skills and that was awesome. I am so proud of everyone.”
Kruck has applied to Queen’s, McGill, McMaster and the University of Toronto and she plans to try out for the volleyball team at whatever school she chooses.
