The girls of Bonnyville’s Notre Dame High School Wildcats junior varsity’ team are the back-to-back champs of the annual Mini Wow Pow volleyball tourney. The event, that draws Grade 8-10 teams from across the region was hosted in Lac La Biche by the J. A. Williams High School Sharks from October 20 to 21.
The Wildcats beat the host team in two sets, 25-23 and 25-20, to win the tournament. The final match was a replay of the previous year’s gold-medal fight between the two schools that eventually saw the Wildcats win a third set, back-and-forth tiebreaker 29-31.
Grinding out two wins in two years is a good record for a relatively young team, says Wildcats coach Scott Cameron. Last year’s team was made up of mainly Grade 9 players. This year’s team has a mix of nines and tens.
Over the two-day tournament, Cameron saw the squad gel.
“We brought a fairly young roster this year - four grade 10s, eight grade 9s - so really didn't come with any firm expectations,” he told Lakeland This Week. “It was fun to see the growth over the course of the two days.”
The win helped the Wildcats grow the depth of their play.
Losing a game and facing some very tough competition on their way to the championships was also an experience-builder, he said.
The Wildcats only loss during Mini Wow Pow was to Ecole McTavish Public High School from Fort McMurray. The all Grade 10 McTavish team had played together for two years and were great from the serve line.
Despite that loss, and a few hiccups along the way during the weekend, overall, the coaching staff was happy with the team’s level of organization.
“We travelled with a full roster of 12 players and were proud of the fact that they all made contributions through the two days,” he said. “We passed and served fairly well and managed to attack the ball with purpose - particularly in the semi and final matches.”
Cameron said all players on the team performed well, whether they were up or down on the scoreboards.
“In crunch time, our Grade 10s showed some leadership and killer instinct to help put us over the top,” he said.
Historic battles
The finale with JAWS this year was a fitting end to the tournament, as the two schools have been rivals on the courts for years.
“We've battled this JAWS group dating back to middle school and it's always a fun matchup,” Cameron explained. “There is some mutual respect there and they have some excellent players that always seem to show up to face us.”
The Mini Wow Pow tournament is a lead-up to the annual Wow Pow tournament for senior high school teams that has been hosted by J. A. Williams for more than 50 years. There senior Wildcats teams from Notre Dame will not be taking part in Wow Pow this year due to a scheduling conflict. The Notre Dame senior teams will be in Lloydminster for the tournament at Holy Rosary High School.
The Notre Dame junior varsity girls have this weekend off, with only two dates remaining on the calendar before season’s end.
The Mini Wow Pow winners will be competing in a senior level tournament at Cold Lake’s Assumption School on the November 3-4 weekend, then preparing for LSAA's JV District Championships that are back on the Lac La Biche courts the following week.
