A .500 record is not great - but certainly okay – as teams work their way through the opening two days of their OVA (Ontario Volleyball Association) Provincial Championships pool play.

Come playoff time on day three, that record would do you little good, limiting teams to just two games (or a 1-1 mark, if you will).

Thankfully for the Northern Chill U17 Attack girls, they would elevate their play when it mattered the most, jumping to the .750 plateau this past Monday to secure bronze medals in the Division 3 Tier 2 event at RIM Park in Waterloo.

The Sudbury squad overcame a close game one setback at the hands of the Orillia Suns Chaos (13-25, 25-17, 14-16), sweeping aside both the Mission – Taylor from Kemptville (25-22, 25-17) and E381 – Chot from Etobicoke (25-16, 25-21).

The Attack girls made it three straight the next day, beating the Simcoe Xtreme Avalanche (25-19, 25-16) but could not sustain their run, falling to EVP – Stubbert from Oakville (11-25, 20-25) and the Bluewater Ballistix Bombers from Grey Bruce / Owen Sound (25-18, 23-25, 11-15).

Garnering the sixth highest seed in the playoff field of 16 teams, the Northern Chill quickly showed they meant business with hardware on the line, blitzing the Brant Tornadoes (Brantford) 25-15, 25-6 and looking every bit as good in eliminating the London Sharks Stealth in quarter-final action, 25-20, 25-10.

Their only blip on the final day was a 21-25, 13-25 loss to the eventual gold medal winning Wildcats Lynx from Markham, closing on a winning note thanks to a solid 25-18, 25-18 triumph over the Waterloo Tigers – Black.

Head coach Adam Marolt, assistant coach Megan Merrylees and team manager Francine Dionne very much enjoyed the chance to spend the 2023-2024 season honing the skills of Emma Mathieu, Ella Dionne, Emily Rocha, Avery West, Caroline Reichle, Taryn Rollins, Arianna Thibodeau, Alaina Marolt, Isabella Deschene and Olivia Borello.