Vipers Banquet 2019!

Before our upcoming season kicks off we would just like to reflect on last season one more time! The banquet is a great time to see our entire Viper family together, and it is something we look forward to each year!

Congratulations to all of our award winners at the 2018/2019 Season Celebration Banquet. We like to acknowledge players for their hard work each season, but it is always so hard to choose with so many amazing athletes on our teams! 

Top Row: Amy (17U MVP), Maya (17U Most Improved), Natalia (17U Team Choice), Maja (14U Strike Most Improved), Hope (14U Strike MVP), Jessie (16U Most Improved), Maddy (16U MVP and Team Choice), Amanda (16U OVAtion), Ella (15U MVP), Olivia (15U Most Improved)

Bottom Row: Hannah (14U Strike OVAtion), Sam (14U Strike Team Choice), Iliana (14U Attack MVP), Siena (14U Attack OVAtion), Mackenzie (14U Attack Most Improved), Andrea (14U Attack Team Choice)

Not pictured: Chloe (15U OVAtion and Team Choice)

We'd like to thank all the parents, players, coaches for being a part of our club, and helping it reach new heights! We are so proud of all of our athletes.

Top Row: Alli (15U Assistant Coach), Mel (16U Assistant Coach), Cari (16U Assistant Coach), Natasha (15U Head Coach), Holly (14U Attack Assistant Coach), Dave (14U Attack Head Coach), Megan (14U Strike Head Coach), Wayne (16U/17U Head Coach)

Bottom Row: Heather (14U Attack Assistant Coach), Lisa (17U Assistant Coach), Natasha (14U Strike Assistant Coach)

We look forward to seeing what the future holds for this small but mighty club, we could be adding up to 4 new teams this year thanks to your support! Way to go Vipers!

Provincial Silver for Supreme!

This past weekend Vipers 16U Supreme came home with a SILVER medal from the OVA Provincial Championships! It was a hard fought 3 day tournament with ups and downs, but the girls fought through the adversity and finished strong!

During the third play of our very first set, our setter dislocated her shoulder, requiring a player to come off the bench and set for the first time. The girls fought back hard, but unfortunately lost that set by two points and then fell in the 2nd set as well. The Vipers regained strength in their third game that day against Niagara Rapids Summit, beating them in an exciting 3 set match! The girls were down 1-8 in the third set, but turned it around to win 15-12!

On Saturday, Supreme had 3 hard battles against Peel Selects, Brant Youth, and Scorpions Smash. Unfortunately, the girls dropped down a tier, but they kept their spirits up going into Sunday - the most important day. The final day of the Provincial Championships is single-knockout, making it very tough to set the nerves aside and focus on one point at a time.

In the Round of 16, the Vipers faced Galaxy Stars from Etobicoke, winning 25-9 and 25-17. Then the girls were matched up against Niagara Rapids Summit again in the Quarter Finals, this time beating them in two straight sets. The Semi-Final game against Guelph Jr. Gryphons Fury was a match to remember! The girls were feeling the pressure, wanting to be in the gold medal match so badly! They won the first set 25-21, fell short in the second set 19-25, but then came out strong in the third set. This final set was a tough back and forth battle. Guelph pulled ahead with a 10-6 lead, but Supreme didn’t give up and tied the score up at 11-11. The girls kept pushing forward and won 15-13!

The final Gold Medal match against E381 from Toronto, was another tough one. The girls had been playing all day with no substitutions, so we were so proud to see that they still had fight left in them! Unfortunately the first set was lost 16-25, but the girls gave their all in the 2nd set, falling only by 2 points at 26-28. Regardless of the scores, we are so proud of this team for having an amazing day! A silver medal at the OVA Provincial Championships is something to be very excited about!

OVA Silver for 16U Supreme!

The Vipers Supreme team had another successful tournament last weekend! The girls started out super strong taking ACTS Elite in 2 sets, 25-6 and 25-15! Supreme had a bit of a slow start to their next match dropping the first set to EVP by 3 points, but they took the momentum from the end of the first set, and won the next two sets with convincing scores!

The Vipers kept moving forward, winning their quarter-final game in 2 straight sets. The semi-final game had to have been Supreme’s best game of the day! The Waves were a tough competitor but the Vipers stayed strong and confident, beating them in 2 close sets: 25-23 and 25-20. This was their ticket to the final match!

Unfortunately, Supreme wasn’t able to capture the gold. It was tough because Supreme beat this Rapids team in the quarter-finals at the first tournament, but gold medal games are just a different beast! However, our girls won the silver and had a great tournament overall! We are super proud of our girls for showing great sportsmanship after the game and cheering on the gold medal team when they received their medals.

We are so happy to see this team gelling as well as they do, especially considering many of the players have never played together before! We look forward to seeing how they continue their successful season at the next tournament!

Also a special good luck to our 14U teams competing today in the Trillium and Select division! Go Vipers!

OVA Bronze for Vipers Force!

Last Saturday, the 15U Vipers Force team played like they have never played before! They started off the day with a big win against Chatham Ballhawks, followed by a close game with Woodstock Warriors 14U. This left the Vipers 2nd in their pool after pool play. 

In the playoffs, the Vipers faced LVC Fire Explode for the quarter finals! The girls came out playing hard, beating LVC in the third set with a score of 15-10! A parent from another team approached our coaches and told them what an amazing game it was to watch! The team was off to the semifinals, matched up against the Scorpions. The girls fought hard taking it to three sets, passing the difficult serves and swinging hard, but fell short in the third set. Although the day was not over yet, the Vipers still had the bronze medal match ahead of them! Staying positive and eager for a medal, the girls challenged the Norfolk Chaos Impact to three very intense sets, keeping them on their toes! At 14-11 in the third set, Vipers had the serve, with the gym quiet and the pressure on, Vipers were able to take the win with an ace serve on game point! 

It was such an exciting day! Coach Nat and Coach Alli are extremely proud of the girls for getting their first medal of the season! They’d like to send a HUGE thank you to Coach Wayne for coming out and helping the girls on such an eventful day! Way to go Vipers!

Vipers Attack takes Silver!

Yesterday the 14U Attack team had a very successful day at the OVA McGregor Cup in the Championship division! The snow plows may have tried to slow the girls down on the way to the tournament, but not even they could come between the girls and their silver medal!

Attack was ranked 5th going into this tournament. After a limited warm up because of the weather, the girls were still able to beat Milton Edge in 3 sets! Their next game was against Pakmen Gold, the number 2 seed, but unfortunately the girls fell short in the 3rd set.

In the quarter-finals the girls fought hard, tried to stay calm, and beat another team in 3 sets by reducing their errors! This time, MVC Fuji. Attack then had a tough semi-final matchup against top ranked Oakville Thunder! The girls went into this game confident and won their ticket to the finals in 2 straight sets!! The girls played excellently, only missing 2 serves the whole game!!

In the finals, the Vipers had to face Pakmen again. Coach Dave said that, “the athletes played very well and defensively were digging hard hits to keep rallies going and making smart decisions offensively.” Unfortunately, Pakmen took the gold. However, this means that Attack only fell to one team all day!

The girls had an amazing tournament all around! Attack received a lot of feedback from other clubs, not only about how they played as a team, but also about the positivity the team brings on and off the court!

The Attack coaches were very proud to see these young girls playing at such a high level! Way to go Vipers!

Supreme's Silver Streak!

This past Saturday our 16U Vipers Supreme team competed in their first OVA tournament of the season. After coming off of the big silver win at their exhibition tournament, the girls played hard and brought home another silver! It was a very exciting day for the players, parents and coaches! This tournament was filled with highly competitive teams and we knew that it was going to be tough to even finish in the final four.

The morning was off to a good start, with a 2 set win against Niagara Rapids Rival 15U. In the next game, Ancaster Lions came out strong. Luckily, the Vipers fought through it and won the 3rd set 15-13! The quarter finals proved to be another challenge. This was a must win game in order to make it to the top 4! Niagara Rapids Summit 15U fought for every point, but Vipers won in 3 exciting sets! 26-24, 20-25 and finally the girls brought their A game in the third set, winning 15-8!

In between the quarters and the semis the team watched their future opponent’s quarter final game. Both teams looked exceptionally strong in their intense 3 set match. When Defensa 15U Purple came out on top, the top Defensa team in their age group, we knew we had our work cut out for us! Vipers Supreme came out hungry! Impressing the coaches with their epic 25-7 win! Defensa fought back in the second set, winning 25-21. The third set was the highlight of the day. Such a competitive, intense, back and fourth battle. Our girls played amazing, winning 15-13!

The gold medal game was against Smash Fusion. A very clean team that always gave last years team trouble! The Vipers played well, but fell a little short with scores of 21-25 and 20-25. However, just getting to this final game was a huge accomplishment for the girls! They were so happy to bring home the silver medal and we can’t wait to see where the rest of the season takes them!!

Way to go Vipers!

First Medals of the Year!

So far this season has been filled with new friendships, hard work, tough competition and great success! This past Saturday, November 17th, our 14U Attack and 16U Supreme teams brought home the first of many medals for the Vipers this year!

The 16U Vipers competed in their first tournament of the season, a pre-season event hosted by EVP! The girls were in a tough 4 team pool, but played exceptionally well beating EVP Red and Sarnia Twin Bridges in two sets each. The girls only fell to Milton Edge, a very competitive team from a higher division.

In the afternoon our girls won the first cross-over game against Peterborough Thunder in 2 sets. The girls then went on to the semi-finals and played Niagara Rapids Summit - another team from a higher division. This was an intense 3 set game, but the Vipers came out on top! In the finals the girls were matched up against Milton Edge again. This time they competed even harder, falling in two sets but keeping it very close. The 2nd set had a score of 24-26! The girls came home with a SILVER medal, and we couldn’t be more proud of how well they played! We wish them luck in their first OVA tournament tomorrow!

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The 14U Attack team won BRONZE in their first OVA tournament of the season last Saturday! Coach Dave says that the girls “showed great teamwork and execution on the key skills that are the focus early in the season.” The girls started strong beating Niagara Rapids Rival 25-18 and 25-12, then beat Defensa White 25-7 and 25-12. 

Attack played Niagara Fury in their first playoff game. The Fury brought the heat but Vipers were able to hold their ground wining 28-26 and 25-14. The girls had another tough matchup in the semi-finals against Niagara Rapids Summit. They showed a lot of character fighting back in the first set, but unfortunately lost 20-25. Coach Dave said that, “the second set again showed their desire to fight with some very very long rallies”. The girls won that set 25-23! Unfortunately the girls ended up losing the third set 14-16, but they had some excellent blocks and awesome defence that game!

Of course losing the semi-finals is disappointing, but the Vipers weren’t done yet! The girls came out strong in the bronze medal game against Defensa Purple and had a convincing win with scores of 25-16 and 25-10!

“The coaching staff is very pleased and proud to work with these great athletes and teammates. They demonstrated the skills and character we saw in them at tryouts… We will continue to develop and refine the skills and work for more success through the rest of the season.” - Coach Dave

Congratulations to both teams and good luck to all of our Vipers in their upcoming tournaments!

The Season of Giving!

We are so proud of our Viper family for kicking off the holiday season by donating 9 baskets to the Basketeers! The Basketeers are a group of generous volunteers who provide some of the simple necessities and niceties of life to a woman, at a women's shelter, as she embarks on the next chapter of her life. Every basket is a gift of encouragement and support, giving mothers the strength to create new lives for themselves and their children. These baskets will be delivered to women in need in the Niagara-West community!

Way to go Vipers!

To learn more about the Basketeers CLICK HERE to check out their website.