Senior WCI Red Devils battle back to secure OFSAA A volleyball berth

WCI middle Aurora House powers home a crucial kill to give her squad a 14-13 lead in the pivotal third set of the WOSSAA A championship match. (Jeff Tribe Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Post Correspondent

The Woodstock CI Red Devil senior girls rose both to the occasion and an elevated level of play at the Western Ontario Secondary Schools Athletic Association (WOSSAA) A championship on Feb. 21 in their home gym.

“Ecstatic. This was our goal all season,” said coach Pauline Schubert following a 3-1 match victory over a tenacious West Elgin Wildcats squad.

The WOSSAA title and attendant Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) A qualification didn’t come easily. To earn their provincial tournament berth, the Red Devils were forced to meet a two-match challenge beginning with a dramatic come-from-behind semi-final win over the London Christian Lynx that morning.

“And they did,” Schubert smiled. “Absolutely.”

The Red Devils eked out a narrow victory in the first set of the best-of-five final, dropping the second. WCI middle Aurora House, a focal point of the Red Devils’ attack throughout, broke a 13-13 tie with a massive centre kill, blocked out of bounds by the Wildcats. A wide West Elgin kill attempt upped the advantage to 21-19, Ava Bickell coming off a Wildcats timeout with a service ace extending the lead to 23-19. The visitors got it back within a point on a pass off the ceiling and block at the net, however, gave service and a 23-21 lead back to the Red Devils with a serve into the net.

Bolstered by House’s powerful jump serves, WCI closed out the set on a West Elgin kill attempt sailing wide, left, and an offensive crosscourt volley also touching down just wide.

The Wildcats responded in the fourth set, taking a 19-15 lead on a powerful backline kill courtesy of Taytem Lamb. However, a subsequent serve into the net passed the ball over to the Red Devils. With Bickell again serving, a wide kill attempt followed by an errant set attempt on a pass near the net, along with back-to-back aces lifted WCI into a 20-19 lead.

“I just tried to get my first one in because we were losing,” Bickell recalled, encouraged by the swing in both score and momentum. “That just gave me confidence to keep going.”

A Wildcats kill attempt into the net, a ball off the antenna and a House scoring tip off a scramble drill pushed WCI within two points of victory. Bickell’s seven-point run was broken with an errant serve, however after a Wildcats kill, West Elgin returned the favour, bringing the Red Devils to set and match point. Chloe Melanson finished a 25-21 victory from there, powering a WOSSAA A gold medal-clinching kill home to the back corner.

“Every single point was a fight, that’s for sure,” said Melanson of a day that had been a battle throughout.

“The semis were even better honestly,” added Sammi Grevers. “They were both really tough games.”

In their morning semi-final match, the Red Devils had taken the first set, dropped a marathon second by a heart-breaking 32-30 score, and then the third to trail 2-1.

In between the third and fourth sets, coach Schubert asked her girls to respond to the deep hole they found themselves in.

“Are we ready to play our game and dig deep?”

With no room for error, WCI took the fourth set, winning the fifth and final to complete a gut-check comeback.

“I think we all had to lean on each other and trust that we had each other’s backs,” said House. “I think we all did really well.”

WOSSAA had presented an extremely high level of competition said House, the team’s performance there an encouraging sign for the upcoming provincial championship draw March 3-5th in Toronto. The Red Devils qualified for last year’s OFSAA final said House, although not performing as well as they had hoped.

“That’s the goal, to get to OFSAA and then bring this energy there.”

While thoroughly enjoying a season coaching players who are good people as well as athletes, coach Schubert would not be averse to making a little noise at OFSAA.

“Hopefully we can…” she concluded, pausing to consider her response, “play well in quarter-finals - that’s going to be our goal.”