The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

18 Sports Oakville Beaver Dodge for a cause SEE PAGE 20 SPORTS EDITOR: JON KUIPERIJ Phone 905-845-3824 (ext. 255) Fax 905-337-5567 email sports@oakvillebeaver.com · SATURDAY, MAY 20, 2006 Underdog Thunder wins bronze at Eastern Canadians As the 28th seed in a 32-team tournament, the Oakville Thunder girls U15 had their share of challenges ahead of them at the Eastern Canadian Volleyball Championships. One they didn't expect was catching their flight home. The Thunder posted six straight victories to reach the semifinals in Moncton, New Brunswick. Although they fell to the eventual champion Durham Attack Black, the Thunder rebounded to defeat Mississauga's Pakman 25-23, 25-22 to win the bronze medal. But there wasn't much time for the tournament underdogs to celebrate. Following their victory, they raced to the airport and just 45 minutes after winning their match, they were flying home. There didn't seem to be much of a reason for scheduling a later flight. The Thunder surprised themselves by making it to the medal round. "If anyone would have asked me where we hoped to finish going into the championships, it would have been stretching it to predict a top-16 finish," said coach Peter Walker. "These girls certainly raised their play to another level. To enter a tournament seeded 28th and finish with a bronze medal is unheard of, especially at the Canadian Championships." Middle Tessa Medlock, a St. Thomas Aquinas student who played senior volleyball this past season as a Grade 9, was selected to the All-Canadian Tournament All-Star team. Setters Monica Hirano, who like Medlock played senior volleyball as a Grade 9 with Oakville Trafalgar, and Terri Lowe as well as power hitter Shannon Stack also received votes for the all-star team. The Thunder, who won the tier II silver medal at the Ontario championships, quickly showed they were better than their seeding by defeating Nova Scotia's Eclipse 25-5, 25-7. They followed that up by rallying for a pair of comefrom-behind victories to defeat the top-ranked New Brunswick team, the Red Thunder, 25-22, 31-29. They finished the opening day with all 11 players contributing to a 27-25, 19-25, 15-13 win over the Waterdown Raiders to clinch first place in the pool. It was much of the same on day two as the Thunder defeated the Durham Attack Red 25-16, 26-24 and Quebec's Aigles 25-18, 25-20. Playing another upstart Ontario team in the final pool game of the day, Toronto West, Oakville faced set point in the opener but scored six straight to win 26-24. They carried that momentum into the second set, posting a 25-16 victory to advance to the quarter-finals. "All year long we knew we had the talent," Walker said. "It was just a matter of when they were going to put it all together." Oakville used its size advantage, particularly with 6-foot Medlock and 5-foot-11 Jacqueline Devreese in the middle, to hit over top of their College de Sacrament opponents in a 25-10, 25-13 triumph. The Thunder would suffer its only loss of the tournament in the semifinals against the tournament's top seed, the Durham Attack Black. Durham came into the match undefeated and despite some long rallies, they stayed that way with a 25-17, 25-17 win. However, no other team in the tournament, including Libelluels in the gold medal game, scored more points against the Attack. Walker said Durham coaches and players said it was their toughest match of the year and that it was unfortunate that the Thunder hadn't met them in the finals rather than the semis. In addition to coming off their first loss of the tournament, the Thunder also had to overcome the loss of power hitter Alex Wright-Moscotto to a sprained ankle early in the second set of the bronze medal game. Still, Oakville delievered a 25-22, 25-23 victory. Other members of the bronze medal team are: Jordie Bevan, Nicole Concannon, Jacly Devreese, Jessica Pecora, Tatiana Seans, Sara Sowinski, Danielle Vigmond and assistant coaches Rona DeVreese and Peter Szpakowski. ARLENE MATTHEWS / SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER BRONZE BOMBERS: The Oakville Thunder U15 girls won the bronze medal at the Eastern Canadian Volleyball Championship. Team members are: (back, from left) assistant coach Peter Szpakowski, assistant coach Rona Devreese, Shannon Stack, Tessa Medlock, Jaclyn Devreese, Nicole Concannon, Sara Sowinski, coach Peter Walker, (middle, from left) Tatiana Deans, Jordie Bevan, Jessica Pecora, Alexandra Wright-Mascotto, (bottom, from left) Terri Lowe, Monica Hirano. Missing was Danielle Vigmond www.eteamz.com/omba Email: omba@canoemail.com 905-847-5545 Team Photo Day, Sunday May 28th at Frozen Ropes - Oakville POWER PLAY: Alexandra Wright-Mascotto of the Oakville Thunder hammers a ball past an opponent as teammate Shannon Stack looks on. The Thunder won seven of their eight matches to claim the bronze medal despite being seeded 28th out of the 32 teams in the tournament. At Air Calm, we take the C.A.R.E. Promise for our Customers! As a leader in heating and cooling, we deliver above-average C.A.R.E (That's Comfort, Accountability, Reliability and Excellence!) to our customers and to our community. Air Calm ClimateCare understands the needs of all of our customers. Call us today for a NO OBLIGATION home analysis of your heating and cooling requirements. A member of ClimateCare, Ontario's largest heating & cooling cooperative e-mail: aircalm@climatecare.com 905- 844 -7354 The Heating and Cooling Professionals who C.A.R.E. Comfort. Accountability. Reliability. Excellence. FURNACES BOILERS SERVICE INFLOOR HEATING FIREPLACES AIR CONDITIONERS INDOOR AIR QUALITY