The Marchmont Public School intermediate girls' volleyball team spiked the competition en route to earnd the Simcoe County championship on Thursday afternoon.
The Mustangs began their season after the holiday break by playing a full season and a couple of tournaments. Coming off a second-place finish in 2023, Coach John Gillen was confident in his team’s chances right from the start.
"We had a couple of returning Grade 7 (students) who are now in Grade 8 who are really strong," he said. "I had a pretty good inclination at the start of the season that we were going to have a good run."
In the round-robin and first two rounds of the playoffs, the Mustangs faced almost no adversity. In the best-of-three championship final against Forest Hill Public School, the Mustangs lost game 1 26-24.
"We missed some serves and were a little bit off," Gillen said. "I wondered how the players were going to be after that, but they were dying to get back on the floor to go at them again."
In the second of the three-game set, the Mustangs clapped back, winning 25-15, sending the series to a winner-take-all third contest with the county crown on the line.
"When that game started, you could tell that they wanted to show that they were the better team," Gillen said. "It was a pretty substantial win."
The Mustangs went up 11-2 at one point in Game 3 and coasted to winning the championship from there.
"We didn't miss our serves, " Gillen said. "We were in control and weren't going to give it back."
The team already has their sights set on winning the championship again next year.
Grade 8 student Billie Rouse says it was a "really fun" season of volleyball.
"We worked really hard," she said. "I think we knew we could make it far, but I don't know if we knew we would make it to the finals."
Rouse says winning the championship is the highlight of her elementary school career. As an experienced Orillia Suns Volleyball Club player, she enjoyed teaching first-time players how to play the game she loves.
"It was fun," she said. "It was really good, and they learned really fast."
Rouse credits her coaches and early morning practices for the success of the team.
Grade 8 student Alyiah Landon says she always believed her team would make a deep run.
"Our team always worked well together," she said. "We always played with great energy."
From tryouts to the championship final, Landon says her team continued to improve each day.
"Especially the girls who never played before," she said. "They just continued to improve so well."
Landon says it's meaningful to win a championship in her last year of elementary school.
"It felt really good to do well with girls who are my favourite people," she said. "This will always be something I remember and will take with me to high school."
