MAIN PHOTO: A nice setup of the ball is made by no. 18 of the Fury for no. 27. (Healey photo)
FALL RIVER: It was a successful first Volleyball Nova Scotia Super Series weekend for two Fall River Fury club teams.
The Fall River Fury U-17 girls and U-18 girls came home with a bronze and gold medal respectively from the tournament, held Feb. 4-5 at Lockview High School in Fall River.
Participating teams in the tournament included the Attackers U-18 from Glace Bay; Bridgewater Chill u-17; the Dartmouth Sonics U-18 Black; Axe U-18;; and Blizzard U-17 Navy; and the two Fury volleyball teams.
An eighth team from Cape Breton was scheduled to participate but had to withdraw due to the wintry conditions that hit the area.
For the U-17 Fury they opened the Tier 1 VNS U18 girls’ Super Series with a close three set loss to Attackers U18 girls from Glace Bay. This was basically a rematch of last year’s U-17 provincial final.
The Fury girls started off strong winning the first set of the tournament. Unfortunately, the Attackers came on strong in the second and Fury had trouble with their serves.
A tough loss in the third set, 15-13, handed Fury their first loss of the season. The girls went down fighting.
In their second match, the Alyssa Harding-coached Fury girls came out strong after the earlier tough loss. They set the tone running their middles early on, who then worked hard to also get some big blocks defensively.
The Fury U-17 came away with a 2-0 set win over the Axe by scores of 25-19 and 25-17.
In day 2 action, Fury U17 defeated Attackers 18U in sets 2-0 to come away with a third place finish and begin the gruelling season as the top ranked U17 team in NS.
Fury U17 began the day with a 2-0 loss versus their Fury family U18s in semi- final action.
Waverley’s own Jessica McKenna was named Player of the Weekend by the Fury coaching staff, earning the tiara-crested hard hat for her excellent play down the middle.
Meanwhile, for the U-18 Fury they beat Chill U17 (from Bridgewater) in two sets 26-25 and 25-19.
The U-18s faced off with the Blizzard UU-17 on Sunday morning before a cheerful crowd.
The game opened with the Blizzard surprising a slow starting Fury squad, who looked to be shaking the cobwebs off in the early morning game.
The Blizzard beat the Fall River squad 25-23 in the opening set.
In the second set, the team led by Leah Weatherhead and Cam Giddens regrouped during the break between sets and came out on fire and showing what they can do en route to a dominating 25-9 win.
Giddens scored many points from consecutive serves before the Blizzard managed to stop the attack—for a brief time anyway.
In the third set, much like the first set, the Blizzard pushed the Fury and at one point held a 13-11 lead, before the Fury scored four points for the nail biting 15-13 victory.
The Fury would go on to beat the Sonics in the U-18 division final for the Super Series gold medal, to complete the weekend of play.
