Sean Allen
BRANT NEWS

The North Park Collegiate Trojans senior girls volleyball team had its back against the wall in Game 2 of the Brant County high school championship on Thursday, but the team stayed patient on defence and was aggressive on offence to earn the school’s sixth-straight title.

The Trojans defeated the Assumption College Lions in five sets to take the three-game series 2-0. The Trojans earned a Game 1 victory against the Lions on Tuesday night.

“We managed to get past the few mistakes we were making at the start and focus on what we needed to do,” Trojans striker Laura Chapple said.

The deck seemed stacked against NPC after Thursday’s game was moved from the neutral venue of St. John’s College to the Lions’ home court because of a dance scheduled at St. John’s.

The Lions used the advantage to take the first two sets 25-14 and 25-17 and looked ready to force a Game 3 next Tuesday.

“There was no panic in these girls,” Trojans coach Sandy Beedham said. “They showed patience, played our game and passed the ball well.”

Midway through the third set, the Lions strung together six points in seven rallies, including two aces by Parker Mills, to even the score 11-11. The Trojans later rattled off eight-straight points, including three kills by Chapple and an ace by server Courtney Lukawiecki, and went on to win the set 25-16.

“At the beginning of the third set, we knew we had to come at them more aggressively,” Chapple said. “We just had to not let the score get us down and keep our heads up.”

The Trojans were challenged by the Lions in the fourth set, but never let the gap shrink to less than three points and took the set 25-20.

In the fifth set, Chappelle stepped up to serve with the Trojans leading 5-3. She proceeded to serve nine straight points and push the Trojans to within a point of the championship.

“It was a team feeling,” Chapple said of the run. “We just all came together knowing we had to win at that moment.”

It was 14-4 when the Lions got the ball back. The Trojans took the next point to take the set 15-4 and win the championship.

Beedham has coached the NPC squad to six straight Brant County championships and her experience showed during the third set.

“I changed my lineup three or four times through the start to get the right fit,” she said. “Assumption really came at us and Parker (Mills) was unbelievable for them. But it shows how deep our bench is that we just kept adjusting until we had the right fit.

“We really worked on hitting our spots in practice this week and when I called a spot tonight the girls hit it. That really helped shut down some of their key players at key moments.”

North Park now advances to the Central Western Ontario Secondary Schools Association AAA playdowns next week in Orangeville.

The Lions aren’t finished either. Because they are from a AAAA division school, ACS will represent Brant at the CWOSSA playoffs in Kitchener next week.

Coach Renee Zareski likes the team’s chances.

“We were definitely the underdogs and I think the Trojans thought they would have things easier, but we stepped up and delivered right to the end,” she said. “That should help the girls at CWOSSA. I feel really good about it.”

In the junior girls final, the Paris District High School Panthers captured their second-straight crown by overcoming an early set victory by the Assumption College Lions to score a 22-25, 25-12, 25-15, 25-20 win.