Woodbridge girls hope to stay hot at OFSAA
AAAA tourney begins tomorrow in Barrie

YorkRegion.com
March 2, 2014
By Michael Hayakawa

If the boys can do it, why can’t the girls?

That was the rallying cry for the St. Jean De Brebeuf Bears senior girls’ volleyball team when they captured the York Region Athletic Association title  with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-17) win over the Richmond Hill Raiders in the final on the Lecole Secondaire Catholique Renaissance court in Aurora last weekend.

The win by the girls team came on the heels of the Bears boys volleyball team winning the YRAA title last fall.

It also marked the first time in the Woodbridge school’s history that boys and girls’ teams captured regional titles in the same sport.

“I think with the boys winning the title earlier in the year it was definitely a motivating factor for the girls,” Bears’ coach Oscar Ginjo said.

While that might have given his club a psychological edge, Ginjo said his small squad performed well not just in the regular season, which saw them finish first in the Central-West with a 9-1 mark, but throughout the playoffs.

“We played with plenty of consistency,” Ginjo said. “We have a varsity group, not a true senior squad. It’s a small number of players, nine girls, who all contributed and we had good leadership throughout.”

The Bears will represent the YRAA for a second straight year at the Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations AAAA championships in Barrie starting tomorrow.

Placed in a pool with Sir Oliver Mowat (Scarborough), Trafalgar (Oakville) and Eastview (Barrie), the Bears begin play at 9 a.m.

Having reached the consolation quarter-finals at last year’s OFSAA event, Ginjo hopes his club can at least get to the championship bracket.

But he acknowledged it won’t be easy since at last year’s OFSAA public schools were absent because of a province-wide labour dispute.

This year, however, they will be present.

“It will definitely be a higher level of play,” he said. “But I think our chances are as good as any team that will be there.”

For more on the OFSAA tournament, go to: ofsaa.on.ca