Storm Silver

WATERLOO, ON. – The North Bay Youth Volleyball Club’s Under 14 Boys Storm came home with a silve medal at the provincials held on the weekend at RIM Park here over the weekend.

In round robin play they first faced the 6th seed Predators team, losing in three sets. The Storm’s next match was against the Niagara Rapids Blue and the Storm defeated them in two straight sets.

In the last game of the round robin, the team faced SVC, the team they won against in their last tournament in the gold medal game.

SVC defeated Storm in three sets, which put them third in their pool.

On Saturday during power pool play, the Storm lost to Barrie Elites in three sets, but were victorious in the next game against MAC. This gave the team a second place in the pool sending them to the playoffs on Sunday to face the Stratford Cobras.

In the first playoff game they defeated the Cobras in two sets. The quarter-final game saw the Storm up against a well-matched Barrie Elite Black squad, whom they had never beaten. The fired up Storm team led the game from start to finish with solid hitting from the two left-sides (Alex Bernardi, Malcolm McCubbin). Time and time again the pair was scoring at will against the Barrie Elites, sending the rejuvenated Storm to the semi-final against Interclub from Toronto. Interclub was a team they had never played against before. The Storm received strong serving from Spencer Hunt who helped give the Storm control of the game. Serving and defense made the difference in this game, as the Toronto club was outmatched in the size department, and the Storm won in two straight sets.

Unfortunately for the Storm, they had no momentum going into the gold medal game and Forest City, from London, handily won the first set.

The persistent Storm battled back in the second set and tied it up at 22. After several back-and-forth plays, the Storm fell short against this bigger London team. The Storm finished with a hard fought silver medal ending the season on a positive note. Congratulations to all team members for their hard work this season. A special congratulations goes out to Tanner O’Brien, as he received the Award of Excellence for the Storm.

The 14U NBYVC Storm team members include: Alex Bernardi, Vicente Benitez, Eric Bowman, Taylor Burrows, Ryan Etches, Davis Evans, Justin Haselhurst, Spencer Hunt, John Kervin, Malcolm McCubbin, Tanner O’Brien, Jordan Sullivan; coach Danny Gosselin and assistant coach Chan Crocker.

Submitted to BayToday.ca