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w w w .insidehalton.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, June 9, 2 0 1 7 | 2 8 Hurricanes rebound from disappointing provincials to win nationals By Herb Garbutt Burlington Post staff It was a dominating perfor mance, one you might expect from the defending champi ons. W hen the competition was at its best, the Halton Hur ricanes rose to the occasion. Nine matches, 18 sets against the top teams in eastern Can ada and not a single loss. A 2 5 -2 0 , 2 5 -2 0 victory over the Leaside Lightning in the gold-medal game secured the Hurricanes' 16-under team its second straight Canadian East Nationals champion ship. The Hurricanes had spent m uch of the season playing up an age group in tourna ments throughout Ontario and the northern United States. The heightened level of competition was meant to get them ready for tourna ments like this. Still, coach Michael Ongley said the best competition his team often faced was in prac tice. Since last year' s eastern Canada title, the Hurricanes had added just one player, setter Rachel Eatough, to run a second unit that could turn each practice into a simu lation of a high-end match against an opponent the Hur ricanes would face at nation als. "I thought we had the best group of volleyball players in Ontario and the thing that WILLSONT OAKVILLE FILM FESTIVAL 2017 O A K V IL L E ' S OWN IN D E P E N D E N T F IL M F E S T IV A L JUNE 23-25 1 Festival / 3 Days 3 Gala Screenings 19 Films & Docs 25 Short Films 1 Chance to See T IC K E T S : O F F A .C A FOLLOW US ON: o# OAKVILLE FESTIVALS OF FILM AND ART made us better was compet ing against ourselves," Ongley said. That included nationals tournament MVP Aleiah Tor res. "She' s such a spark plug. She has a never-say-die atti tude," Ongley said. "Taking control of the back court de fence, she saved a number of points for us." If you had asked Ongley four weeks earlier if the Hur ricanes could defend their title without dropping a set, he would not have hesitated. "There are not a lot of teams in their age group that can stop them ," he said. That all changed at the On tario championships. Ongley was as shocked as everyone else when it hap pened. And he was equally surprised by the reaction of his players. Immediately after the gold-medal match they tried their best to let on that it didn't bother them. But when one of his play ers saw an opponent wearing her championship shirt, it was tough to put on a brave face. "I was told there were some tears on the way hom e," Ongley said. "I think it sets in afterward when they real ize it' s not going to happen." The Hurricanes had won three straight provincial titles and seemed to be cruising to a fourth. Playing up an age group, the Hurricanes had reached the provincial 17-under fi nal. Playing at its own level, Halton won eight straight matches to reach the Ontario final, though Ongley couldn't shake a feeling he had. "I got a sense we weren't playing our best," he said. The Hurricanes had been pushed to three sets three times, although Halton had already beaten Mississauga' s Pakmen, its opponent in the Champions Above are four of the five Oakville players who contributed to the Halton Hurricanes' second straight Canada East national championship. They are (from left) Julia Jeffrey, Elizabeth Richmond, Nya Jones and Rachel Eatough. Marina Vesovic was absent for photo. | photo submitted gold-medal match, the previ ous day. But in a shocking upset, Pakmen scored a 2 5 -2 3 , 2 5 19 victory. Ongley said the Hurricanes might have been a victim of their own success. "You don't learn anything from winning. At the 17U (provincials) we won some tough matches, but that doesn't tell us we have to work on anything," he said. "And there was a target on our backs." W ith a month to regroup, the Hurricanes returned to nationals, still regarded as one of the teams to beat. They won all three of their matches on the opening day, but surrendered more points than in either of the playoff rounds. On Day 2, the Hurricanes started rolling, allowing an average of three points less per set, and took it to a new level in the elimination matches on Day 3. "They were very good all weekend, but when it's do or die, they've been in that situ ation before. They've played on some very successful high school teams and the more times you play in these high level tournaments, the better you are. On Day 3, they knew it was time to get it done." Halton beat Quebec's Assaut 2 7 -2 5 , 2 5 -2 0 in the quarter-finals and topped Burlington' s Defensa 25 -1 4 , 2 5 -1 0 in the semifinals. Playing big parts in those wins were tournament all stars Biamba Kabengele and Danielle Gravina. "Biamba is one of our big gest point scorers and on the court she has a great way of encouraging the girls," Ong ley said. "Danielle is very vo cal and very knowledgeable." In the final, the Hurricanes played a scrappy Leaside Lightning team that forced them to work for their points. Halton was able to keep ral lies alive to win points and limit mistakes on its way to victory. "For them, I think it was a huge relief. They knew their hard work had paid off and that when they do set their minds to it, any goal is achievable," Ongley said. "They had a lot to prove to themselves. They weren't go ing to let what happened at provincials happen again." Andeison leads J r. B Buzz to victory over Ironheads A seven-point night by Matt Anderson and hat tricks by Adam Wolf and Henry Follows allowed the Oakville Buzz to dump the West Durham Ironheads 14-10 Wednesday night in Jr. B lacrosse action in Ajax. Austin Redding contributed two goals and three assists to the cause for the Buzz, which also had two goals from Anderson and sin gles from Jaden W alcot, Kevin Dong, Marley Angus and Kyle Kennery. Matt Hodowany re corded the win in goal for Oakville. The win improved the Buzz's record in the South East Division to 9-6-1 for 19 points, four points behind division-leading Halton Hills Bulldogs. Oakville hosts the Orillia Kings tomorrow (Saturday) at 8 p.m. at Oakville's Toronto Rock Athletic Centre.