Wolves win SWOSSAA, enter OFSAA volleyball tourney as top seed

By Ron Giofu

The North Star Wolves earned a trip to the OFSAA “AA” provincial girls volleyball tournament this week in St. Catharines after winning SWOSSAA last week.

After the SWOSSAA match was postponed twice due to inclement weather, the Lambton Central Collegiate & Vocational Institute (LCCVI) Lancers were able to make the trip to Amherstburg from Petrolia last Tuesday evening.

North Star knocked off the Lancers convincingly, sweeping the match in three sets by scores of 25-8, 25-8 and 25-16 and entered OFSAA as the top seed.

“It feels good,” said North Star’s Emily Beauregard.

Teammate Lauren Essenpreis said the Wolves have improved as the season has gone on.

“We’ve grown so much as a team since the beginning of the year,” said Essenpreis.

With the program moving from General Amherst High School to North Star High School, the players had to get used to their new school and Essenpreis indicated they were able to do that.

“It’s a different environment,” she said.

Beauregard said they played LCCVI in a recent tournament at Chatham-Kent.

“We played them in the Chatham tournament and split sets with them,” said Beauregard.

Essenpreis said they went out in the SWOSSAA with a strong mindset and “we went out and played our best.”

Both Beauregard and Essenpreis thanked the coaches, parents, supporters and the fans for coming out for last Tuesday night’s match.

Assistant coach Mary Ewer said this is the tenth SWOSSAA title and 12th trip to OFSAA since she and head coach Jeff Miller took over the senior girls volleyball program at General Amherst.

“They served well,” said Ewer. “Our defense played great. We were up to the challenge. We came out ready to play and played well.”

Ewer said they didn’t practice well the day before but attributed that to being disappointed about the two postponements due to weather.

Miller said they were the favourites coming in and knew that if they played well, they should be able to win. He said he gave credit to their opponents but believed in his team.

“We knew if we came out and served well, they wouldn’t stop us and that’s exactly what happened,” said Miller.

The Wolves worked on their systems heading into the OFSAA tournament.

“We’re playing well,” he said after

Tuesday’s SWOSSAA win. “We’re playing at a high level. Like any sport, you strive for consistency.”

There will be a lot of good teams and several challenges at OFSAA, Miller added, and “we have to be ready for it.”

The Wolves won all three matches on the first day of OFSAA this past Monday. They defeated Mentor College 25-9 and 25-12, Bishop Marrocco/Thomas Merton 25-11 and 25-8 and Kingston 25-13 and 25-19. The tournament was ongoing as of press time.