Lo-Ellen Park picks up consolation banner at OFSAA

All it would take is one stumble, right out of the gate, to squash the medal hopes of the Lo-Ellen Park Knights senior girls volleyball team, competing at the 2014 OFSAA AA Championships in Thunder Bay earlier this week.

Seeded fifth entering the 20-team event, the Knights recovered from an opening game loss to Francis Libermann from Scarborough (14-25, 22-25), fighting their way through to the consolation final.

After falling to the 15th seed on Monday morning, Lo-Ellen dusted themselves off, beating the Holy Trinity Titans (Courtice) 25-14, 25-6 and closing Day 1 with a tough 17-25, 25-16, 7-15 loss to perennial powerhouse Eden High School Flyers from St. Catharines, seeded third.

The Knights closed out pool play on Tuesday, taking down the Parkdale Panthers (Toronto) 25-10, 25-21, finishing third in their grouping. The NOSSA champions extended their stay in northwestern Ontario by an extra day, besting the St. Joseph's Jaguars (Barrie) in four sets, 24-26, 25-20, 25-16, 25-21 in the consolation quarter-finals.

Lo-Ellen would go the limit in both games on Wednesday, outlasting the Paris District High School Panthers 17-25, 25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 15-11 before capping off their four-game winning streak with a 21-25, 25-18, 14-25, 25-19, 15-9 victory over the St Ignatius Falcons of Thunder Bay, rewarding coach Kathy Sutton and company with the consolation banner.

Much further south, in Richmond Hill, the Marymount Academy Regals were somehow awarded a fourth-place seeding overall, despite having half of their starting lineup absent, for OFSAA, due to a pre-planned school trip to Europe.

The Regals, who captured the NOSSA A championship in Chelmsford the previous weekend with their full roster on the floor, posted a record of 1-3 in pool play before being sent packing in the consolation quarter-final round.

The locals started things off on the right foot, beating the E.S. Père René-de-Galinée Knights 25-22, 21-25, 15-11, but would not taste victory again. Losses to St-Francois Xavier from Sarnia (22-25, 20-25), Holy Trinity Hawks from Richmond Hill (17-25, 22-25) and the UTS (University of Toronto Schools) Blues (12-25, 17-25) would relegate the Regals to fourth place in Pool D.

The end of the line came opposite the eventual Consolation draw champions as Marymount dropped a 23-25, 21-25, 20-25 decision to the Seaway District High School Spartans from Iroquois, part of what is now South Dundas, a township along the north shore of the St. Lawrence, situated between Kingston and Montreal.