Media Releases March 2010

JMSS loses in 'AA' quarter-finals The Chatham-Kent Golden Hawks had a case of deja vu Wednesday night. For the second year in a row, they left the OFSAA 'AAA' girls volleyball championship as bronze medallists. And, for the second year in a row, they did it the hard way. The No. 3 Golden Hawks rallied for a three-set win in the bronze-medal match after dropping the first set, just like they did one year ago. "They were really happy in the end," Chatham-Kent head coach Randy Bartlett said. They won 18-25, 27-25, 15-13 over the tournament hosts, No. 4 Stratford St. Michael. The Golden Hawks didn't lose the third set in a best-of-three match the entire season. "It's an interesting team," Bartlett said. "It seems as the match goes on, they just get hungrier." The McGregor Panthers, meanwhile, lost in the 'AA' quarterfinals for the second straight year. The No. 6 Panthers were swept 25-15, 25-22 by No. 9 Beamsville. 'AAA': 

At Stratford, the bronze medal match was a clash of girls volleyball powerhouses. Chatham-Kent and St. Michael have combined to win three of the past five OFSAA 'AAA' titles (CKSS in 2006, St. Michael in 2007 and '08). The Golden Hawks have won a total of five OFSAA championships as well as three silver medals. Their first four gold's - 1993, '94, '98 and '99 - were at the 'AA' level. Their hopes for a sixth banner ended with a 25-23, 25-19 semifinal loss to No. 7 Gloucester Louis Riel, the eventual gold medallists. "They were just tall and they'd hit over our block," Bartlett said. "And eventually they just wore us down." The Golden Hawks bounced back in the third-place match to outlast the St. Michael Warriors, last year's silver medallists. "We started slow in the first game, then we pulled out the second game. In the third game, they persevered," Bartlett said. "They just found something left and put it out there." The Golden Hawks reached the Final Four with a 25-16, 2516 sweep of No. 16 Wingham Madill in the quarter-finals. They won their pool with a 4-0 record Tuesday. Louis Riel won the championship match 30-28, 25-21, 2521 over No. 1 Toronto Sir Oliver Mowat, the defending champs. 'AA': At Perth, McGregor tied for first in its pool with No. 1 West Lorne West Elgin and No. 11 Sault Ste. Marie Sir James Dunn at 3-1. Based on their head-to-head results, West Elgin won the tiebreaker and McGregor was second. Third-place Dunn was left out of the quarter-finals. McGregor ended pool play Wednesday morning with a 25-5, 25-11 win over No. 20 Perth St. John. No. 2 Amherstburg General Amherst, the SWOSSAA champions, won the gold-medal match 25-19, 25-19, 25-15 over No. 3 Dryden. It was the second straight title and third in five years for the Generals.

CKSS in OFSAA quarter-finals after winning pool; McGregor can also make playoffs The Chatham-Kent Golden Hawks will play Wednesday in the championship round at the OFSAA 'AAA' girls volleyball tournament. The McGregor Panthers are poised to do the same at the 'AA' tournament. The No. 3-seeded Golden Hawks went 4-0 in the round robin Tuesday to earn a quarterfinal berth. The No. 6 Panthers are 2-1 with one round-robin match left this morning against No. 20 Perth St. John. Even if they win, they could finish anywhere from first to third in their pool. 'AAA': At Stratford, the Golden Hawks began the round-robin by sweeping their first three opponents. They won 25-16, 25-12 over No. 19 Hamilton Barton; 2518, 25-17 over No. 14 Toronto Lawrence Park; and 25-22, 2518 over No. 8 Russell St. Thomas Aquinas. The Golden Hawks had to rally in the fourth match against No. 9 Cobourg St. Mary's. After losing 25-19, they came back to win 25-12 and 15-12 to place first in their pool. The Golden Hawks' opponent for the 12:30 p.m. quarter-final hasn't been determined. The semifinals are at 3:30 p.m., followed by the bronze-medal match at 5:30 p.m. and the gold medal match at 7 p.m. 'AA': At Perth, the Panthers won their opening match 25-13, 25-13 over No. 16 Mississauga St. Paul. They then beat No. 11 Sault Ste. Marie Dunn 23-25, 25-14, 15-12. The Panthers threw a scare into No. 1 West Lorne West Elgin before losing in three sets. McGregor won the first 25-19, but West Elgin took the next two 25-20 and 15-11. West Elgin was 3-1 in the round-robin. McGregor and Dunn are tied for second at 2-1. If the Panthers make the quarter-finals, they'll play at 12:30 p.m. The LaSalle Vipers and St. Thomas Stars completed quarter-final upsets Tuesday in the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League's Western Conference. The fifth-place Vipers beat the fourth-place St. Marys Lincolns 5-3, while the seventh-place Stars edged the second-place Strathroy Rockets 4-3. Both series lasted five games. At St. Marys, the Vipers erased a 32 deficit in the third period on goals by Drew Palmer, D.J. Turner and Ryan Baldwin. Eric Noel and Dave Bingeman also scored for the Vipers. Connor Lyons made 37 saves. Wallaceburg's Seth Griffith put the Lincolns ahead 3-2 early in the third period. He had a team-high six goals and nine points in the playoffs. Blair Brewer and Ian McIntosh also scored for the Lincolns. Stephen Heming stopped 43 shots. At Strathroy, ex-Maroon Dave Morden scored the winner on a power play at 11:32 of the third period. Brad Martin scored twice for the Stars, Chris Rocca had one goal and Jared Richmond made 32 saves. Chris Bodo led the Rockets with two goals, J.D. Monague added one and Blair Bennett stopped 36 shots. ESSEX - Tony Spidalieri and Anthony Iaquinta scored first period goals for the Essex 73's in a 2-1 win over the Belle River Canadiens on Tuesday in the Great Lakes Junior 'C' Hockey League playoffs. Travis Brown scored in the second for the Canadiens, who were trying to complete a four-game sweep of the South Division final. Essex's Branden Robitaille made 33 saves. Belle River's Chad Summerfield made 30. Game 5 is Thursday in Belle River.

The Chatham-Kent Golden Hawks and Blenheim Bobcats were eliminated from the SWOSSAA girls curling championship with first-round losses Wednesday. The Kent champion Golden Hawks lost 7-6 to Lakeshore St. Anne and the Bobcats lost 7-4 to Sarnia Northern. Each Kent team later played a friendship game and tied their respective opponent.

The Chatham-Kent Golden Hawks lost in four sets to the Belle River Nobles in the SWOSSAA 'AAA' junior girls volleyball final Wednesday. Belle River won 25-21, 20-25, 25-12, 25-21. The Blenheim Bobcats are the lone Kent team to win a SWOSSAA junior girls volleyball title this season. They're 'A' champions for the fourth straight year. 

McGregor has second shot at OFSAA after losing SWOSSAA 'AA' final 

The Chatham-Kent Golden Hawks got a lesson Tuesday on the importance of taking good notes. 

Chatham-Kent Golden Hawks' Shawnie Jackson (5) and Elizabeth Vandenborn (2) try to block Nicole Hunter of the St. Joseph's Lasers during the SWOSSAA 'AAA' senior girls volleyball final Tuesday at CKSS. The Golden Hawks won 25-19, 25-16, 25-18. 

You never know when they might come in handy. With a berth in the OFSAA 'AAA' girls volleyball tournament up for grabs, the Golden Hawks had to play the Windsor St. Joseph's Lasers for the first time since their season-opening match three months ago. The Golden Hawks coaches prepared for the SWOSSAA senior final by digging out their old notes. Knowing what to expect from the Lasers, the Golden Hawks won 25-19, 25-16, 25-18 at Chatham-Kent Secondary School. " They've improved a lot," Golden Hawks hitter Elizabeth Vandenborn said, "but so have we." Chatham-Kent advances to the OFSAA tournament March 9-10 in Stratford. St. Joseph's will host Petrolia Lambton Central on Wednesday for the second SWOSSAA berth at the provincial championship. Co-captain Irene Protopapas said the Golden Hawks didn't want to take their chances with a challenge game. "We wanted to do this one and win in three," she said. "Better feeling going (to OFSAA) as the SWOSSAA champion." 

The SWOSSAA title is the Golden Hawks' second in a row. " We' re still g rowi n g ," Protopapas said. " We're still learning every game what we can do. Hoping to peak at the right time at OFSAA." What did they learn against the plucky Lasers? "As good as that team was, we can shut them down in three games," Protopapas said. "No matter how good a team is, we can soar above them." They met every challenge posed by St. Joseph's. When the Lasers trimmed a 10-point deficit to three at 18-15 in the second set, the Golden Hawks answered with a 7-1 run that included three kills and two blocks by Kailey Houston. When the Lasers rallied again in the third set for a 14-14 tie, Protopapas and Houston combined for six kills in another 7-1 run that put the game away. " It really inspired us to go harder," Vandenborn said about the Lasers' comeback, "because we didn't want to lose. We wanted to take them in three games. ... "We thrive on that pressure." SENIOR 'AA': The McGregor Panthers get a second shot at OFSAA when they host the Essex Red Raiders in a SWOSSAA 'AA' senior girls challenge game at 7 p.m. Wednesday. On Tuesday, the Panthers were swept 25-6, 25-11, 25-19 by Amherstburg General Amherst in the final at McGregor. "The kids just didn't want to play," McGregor head coach Jim Smyth said. "... We did not pass serve very well. When you don't pass serve well, you end UP giving Amherst a lot of free balls. And technically they're very sound. If you give them free balls, they're going to make you pay." The Panthers beat the Generals in last year's SWOSSAA 'AA' final, but the Generals went on to win the OFSAA championship. Amherst has several starters back this season, while McGregor has only one. " I think a part of it is our youth," Smyth said about Tuesday's loss. " Young kids, SWOSSAA final, they don't know what to expect." The Panthers will face the Red Raiders tonight for the first time. "If we play to our capabilities, then we're even with them," Smyth said. "And whoever plays well will win.

CKSS boys, girls teams lead Kent contingent going to SWOSSAA Sarah Jane Sass skipped the Chatham-Kent Golden Hawks to their second straight Kent high school girls curling championship Monday. The Golden Hawks needed only six ends to beat the Blenheim Bobcats (Gold) 10-2 at the Golden Acres Curling Club. "We worked together well and we played great," Sass said. "We had fun, too." Her teammates are vice Emily Campbell, second Meghan White and lead Shanna Yang. Their other lead, Kelsey Cunningham, didn't play. the SWOSSAA boys tournament Tuesday in Petrolia. Eric O'Neill skips the Lancers and Brett DeKoning skips the Panthers. Chatham-Kent and Blenheim (Gold) play Wednesday in the SWOSSAA girls tournament in Windsor. Stephanie Campbell skips the Bobcats. 

The SWOSSAA winners go to the OFSAA championships. Sass is going to her fourth consecutive SWOSSAA tournament, including the past three as skip. Emily Campbell and Cunningham went last year as well. The Hawks are better now than a year ago, Sass said. "We've practised a lot more and three of the girls play in competitive OCA ( Ontario Curling Association) events," she said. They were first in the Kent regular season with an 8-0 record. " The other teams, they're mostly new, so our competition will be at SWOSSAA," said Sass, who is also a Kent tennis champion in singles. In the girls semifinals, Chatham-Kent beat Ursuline 134 and Blenheim (Gold) defeated Ridgetown 8-3. Ursuline later beat Ridgetown 9-1 for third place. In the boys semifinals, Ursuline upset top-seeded McGregor 7-2 and Chatham-Kent beat Ridgetown 7-5.