Eclipse 16U East Wins Humber Invitational

After two months of dedicated practice and conditioning for the players and the endless efforts from the coaches, the girls finally saw their first exhibition 16U tournament at Humber College on Sunday October 23, 2011 where some of the top volleyball teams across Ontario converged for a pre-season tournament. The girls came out strong in their pool play with Eclipse East beating Etobicoke 381, DRVC and Ms. Pacman two games to zero respectively finishing first in their pool.

            The semi-final game featured the Eclipse East playing against its sister team Eclipse West which turned out to be a real nail biter. The first game was won with a score of 25-21 and then unfortunately the second set was not what the girls wanted with a 20-25 victory for Eclipse West.  With some great volleyball and inspiring defense Eclipse East was able to squeeze out a win 15-13 beating the West team two games to one.

            The finals had two of the top teams in Ontario facing each other for a fight to capture the gold medal. This seemed like déjà vu as Eclipse East faced STVC Titans once again as in the 2011 Provincial Tournament in Waterloo back in May. Both teams were nervous from the outset but at the same time looking forward to playing each other. After a very positive day of being undefeated, Eclipse East came up short in the first game losing 8-25 against the Titans, however, with determination and tenacity Eclipse was able to regain its confidence and defeated the strong Titans in the next two sets, 25-9 and 15-12.

All in all, it was a great start to the 2011-2012 season for the new 16U Eclipse team! It is sure to be an exciting, competitive season with some great volleyball to come. The girls will undoubtedly focus their sights on areas for improvement in preparation for their upcoming challenge – the 16U Provincial Cup.

Congratulations ladies and Coaches Arif & Vicki on a job well done!