While the original story that appeared in the Sudbury Star combined both the Rainbow Board recap with that of the CSCNO/CSPGNO tournament, I have decided to separate them for website purposes - though the introductory paragraphs remain the same in both stories.
Even the mighty Mississippi River begins as a small trickle from the edges of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota. Some 2,348 miles later, its outflow pours into the Gulf of Mexico, just south of New Orleans.
In the world of local athletics, any sport that is seeing success at the upper end of the food chain, producing elite talent for the post-secondary ranks and beyond, can most often look back on some very solid starting points for those young prospects in their particular undertaking.
Look no further than the current status of volleyball in Sudbury.
For every announcement we make of another high-school player committing to a university or college team comes the confirmation that all but two of the more than 50 Rainbow District School Board elementary institutions fielded at least one team in tournament play these past three months.
For every celebration of yet another OFSAA medal for SDSSAA entries in provincial championships on the court comes the cheer that welcomes the news that another 31 teams split between both the French catholic and French public boards wrapped up their 2024 season with seven banners being distributed last week.
The fact is there was no smoke and mirrors to the regular season results that were compiled by the top-end CSCNO/CSPGNO volleyball entries this fall. The end of year playoffs only served to prove that the elite were legit.
With Collège Notre-Dame serving as host venue, a pair of regular season undefeated teams added a playoff crown to their list of laurels as the Jean-Paul II Comètes (girls) and the Macdonald-Cartier Panthères (boys) took home the Division A banners for the French boards.
The Jean-Paul II girls joined Alliance St-Joseph as the two teams which posted an undefeated 8-0 mark in preliminary round play, with the two meeting up in the final. “We did lose to them once at the start of the season (in tournament play), but we’ve improved so much,” noted Comètes setter Ivana Coluzzi.
“We have our communication down pat now.”
Truth be told, this is a key element of her game in particular, tackling the role of what is generally considered to be the on-court general. “I played setter for my school team starting last year,” said Coluzzi. “I am more vocal, extremely loud. You either know if the ball is mine or not.”
“And because I am quick, it’s easy for me to run around the court.”
With plenty of gifted attackers as teammates, Coluzzi thrives in finding just to right set to make more often than not. “It depends on where the pass is,” she explained. “If the pass is more to my left, I am going to set my left side. If the pass is in the middle, I have pretty much all of my options.”
“I can back-set my right side but I don’t typically do it just because there’s some many things that can go wrong because I can’t see them.”
A devoted club player as well, Coluzzi came across an interesting training set-up over the summer – in the family garage, no less. “It’s a bit weird,” she said with a laugh. “I will throw the ball up, pretty high. And I made a square on the garage wall, so I will try and hit the square (with my set)” - the square serving as her target.
Jean-Paul II girls team: Tessa van Drunen, Gabrielle Fantin, Brielle Leonard, Jasmine Lapointe, Peyton Tessier, Véronique Lavallée, Lily Dolynchuk, Frédérique Larose, Isabelle Laplante, Ella Sabourin and head coach Sylvie Bernard.
Macdonald-Cartier middle Cameron Desrochers is, understandably, a big fan of the perfect set. The 5’7” grade 8 member of the gold medal winning Panthères team is not about to overpower a whole lot of opposing middles – at least not just yet.
“If the other teams have blocks and they are really tall guys, I might see some open spots beside the blockers, so I will try and tip it and hope that no one covers,” said Desrochers, one of four Northern Chill athletes who competed with the ESMC championship team.
Like the JP II girls, the gold medal winning boys team also benefitted from a healthy progression from start to finish of their season, topping the standings along with Alliance St Joseph (at 8-0), though it was the Jean-Paul II boys team they would vanquish in the final.
“When we started our season, at our first practices, I thought we were going to be a pretty good team,” said Desrochers. “As the season went on, we kept getting better and better and towards the end of the season, I realized how good we actually were.”
Macdonald-Cartier boys team: Bentley Norman, Mathieu Bélanger, Jace Séguin, Emmett Ménard, Elliot Buck, Ben Barriault, Hudson Dennison, Matéo Dudet, Blake Forget, Noah Brunet, Caleb Coutu, Joey Caruso, Simon McKechnie, Nicholas Diotte, head coach Cynthia O’Byrne and assistant coaches Brendan Deacon and Xavier Aubertin.
Remaining medal winning teams included:
Division A - Girls: St Denis (bronze)Division A – Boys: Alliance St Joseph (bronze)
Division B – Girls: Félix-Ricard (gold); Ste Marie (silver); Macdonald-Cartier (bronze)
Division B – Boys: St Paul (gold); St Denis (silver); ES Hanmer (bronze)
Division C – Girls: St Paul (gold); St Etienne (silver); ES Hanmer (bronze)
Division C – Boys: Félix-Ricard (gold); St Augustin (silver); ES Hanmer (bronze)
Division D – Girls: Alliance St Joseph (gold); Notre-Dame – Hanmer (silver)