Knights celebrate victory, homecourt playoff opener with win over Aylmer East Elgin

Woodstock College Avenue Knight Brianna Nevill twists to make a solid first pass. (Jeff Tribe Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

Junior girls volleyball can be a high-energy, high-octane sport.

And that was just the coach.

“Social conditioning I think a little bit,” laughed Woodstock College Avenue Knights junior bench boss Mike Gyssels, who may have let out a bit of a whoop after Kat Pye’s left-side kill closed out a 25-22, 25-20, 25-23 Thames Valley Regional Athletics (TVRA) Southeast victory over the visiting Aylmer East Elgin Eagles Tuesday, February 3 at CASS. “Their energy is infectious, they’re a lot of fun.”

“I think he gets excited when we get excited,” said College Avenue’s Katie Hofstetter, earning the Knights’ ‘heart and hustle’ belt for the match. “Energy is a very big thing in women’s sports,” Hofstetter continued. “You need to uplift each other through everything, good points and bad points.”

To be fair to Gyssels, each set had been hard-fought and closely contested, a 3-0 match sweep decided by a point differential of just 10. The victory squared the Knights’ regular season record at 4-4, locking up an 11 versus 6 seed post-season date with the St. Thomas Central Elgin Titans on Tuesday, Feb. 10.

“That was a big point for us,” Gyssels explained. “Got us homecourt advantage.”

“It’s like a good way to end it,” added Pye. “You see everyone put in the good work and when you finish it off, it’s a team effort.”

The match was one of two scheduled TVRA Southeast-closing outings on the day, marking junior girls’ volleyball’s return to action following the exam break. In the other, the Woodstock CI Red Devils finished off their regular campaign with a perfect 8-0 record, earning a four-set 25-10, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18 road victory over the St. Thomas St. Joe’s Rams.

The Red Devils will open quarter-final playoffs Thursday, Feb. 12, at home to the winner of a 9 versus 8 preliminary match between Woodstock Huron Park and St. Joe’s. The Ingersoll DCI Blue Bombers and Woodstock St. Mary’s Warriors finished with identical 6-2 records, but the Bombers were awarded second place on the strength of a five-set win over the Warriors on Tuesday, Dec. 9. The Bombers will host the winner of the 10 versus 7 Lord Dorchester preliminary on Thursday, Feb. 12 at IDCI. The Warriors will welcome the victor between the Titans and Knights.

“I hope we can win our next game and keep on going,” said College Avenue’s Hannah Ryksen. “This game was probably one of our best.

“If we keep playing like this, we can go far,” she added.

TVRA Southeast semi-finals and the final are slated for Wednesday, Feb. 18.

The CASS senior Knights also closed out their regular season Tuesday, Feb. 3, dropping a tough 25-22, 17-25, 25-19, 18-25, 14-16 match to the visiting East Elgin Eagles. They finished in seventh spot with a 4-4 record and were scheduled to open a 10 versus 7 playoff matchup at home to the Huron Park Huskies on Tuesday, Feb. 10.

“Lower end, so we have to work our way up,” said the Knights’ Julia Baer. “But we can do it. We can do it.”

The WCI Red Devil senior girls rounded their TVRA Southeast regular campaign with a come-from-behind 25-13, 23-25, 19-25, 25-18, 15-8 victory over the St. Joe’s Rams, locking up second place in the process. The Red Devils open quarter-final playoffs at 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, at home to the winner between the Knights and Huskies.

The Woodstock St. Mary’s Warriors were scheduled to travel to Tillsonburg Glendale on Tuesday, Feb. 10, for a 9 versus 8 preliminary game. The winner heads to St. Thomas Parkside to take on the undefeated Stampeders that Thursday. The 5-3 Ingersoll DCI senior Blue Bombers finished the regular season as the fifth seed and open playoffs with a 5 versus 4 quarter-final on Thursday, Feb. 12, at Aylmer East Elgin.

TVRA AA semi-finals and the final are scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 18.