Back in November, the Macdonald-Cartier Panthères broke through to capture the first ever SDSSAA Division A boys volleyball championship in the 50+ year history of the school.
Roughly one month from now, the Champlain Requins hope to duplicate that feat when the SDSSAA Division I girls volleyball finals are contested at Cambrian College.
A very solid outfit one year ago, the Requins fell in the city finals to the Horizon Aigles but bounced back nicely to claim the NOSSA "AA" banner and a trip to OFSAA with a three-set sweep of the St Mary's Knights from Sault Ste Marie.
Fast forward a year and Champlain currently tops the standings at 8-1 and recently added another tournament title to their resume, walking away with honours at the Chelmsford Flyers Tournament earlier this month.
And still, the Aigles are lurking in the background, in second place at 7-1 and the only team to hand Champlain a regular season setback this year.
"We have the skills and we're playing really well against other teams but when we get up against Horizon, we shut down for some reason," veteran right-side hitter Andrea Bernard admitted.
"I think it's more of a mental game, honestly, at this point. If we can just get over that, we'll do well."
With Horizon not part of the lineup in Chelmsford, the Requins cruised through, beating the Superior Heights Steelhawks from Sault Ste Marie in the semis (25-19; 26-24) and toppling the Lo-Ellen Park Knights in the final (25-21; 25-23).
Lo-Ellen eliminated the Lockerby Vikings in the remaining semi-final (25-20; 25-22), with the Bishop Carter Gators, Notre-Dame-du-Sault, St Benedict Bears and Kirkland Lake Devils also making their way into quarter-final action.
"We were missing a lot of players, so a lot of people really put themselves out there," said Bernard. "Our first year seniors really showed well and Olivia Lachapelle is helping keep us together."
"She has a lot of energy."
The junior draw in Chelmsford would see the Lo-Ellen Park Knights, unbeaten in local play at 8-0, continue to shine as the class of this field, handling the Lasalle Lancers with relative ease, 25-11, 25-20.
The Knights earned their ticket to the gold medal encounter thanks to a triumph over Macdonald-Cartier (26-24; 25-18) while Lasalle bested Lockerby in three sets (25-23; 18-25; 16-14), settling for silver in the end.
With exams set to begin on Monday, the teams do not hit the court again until February 3rd, with playoffs kicking off one week later and city finals this year set for Valentine's Day (Friday, February 14th).
