It was an almost perfect day for Stephanie Welch on Saturday as the senior girls volleyball team at Duchess Park earned their eighth straight zone title and Welch was named tournament MVP.
But there was something missing for the Grade 12 student in the Condors 3-0 (25-14, 25-10 and 25-13) dominating best-of-five victory over the Kelly Road Roadrunners in the 2011 triple-A girls North Central volleyball zone championship.
"It's the first time my mom's missed a game," said a tearful Welch. "She's in California right now and it's just really hard. She's always supported me with volleyball; it's hard that she's not here."
Nida Welch would have enjoyed watching her daughter, a power-hitter and libero for the Condors, move effortlessly around the court digging up balls and getting them over the net. The 17 year old was an easy choice for tournament MVP due to her consistency.
Duchess Park has had a season of highs and lows, but everything went their way as they closed out the three-team tournament with three straight wins after dropping the opening game to the Roadrunners.
"The loss to Kelly Road [Friday] was really hard," said Welch. "We took the momentum from the crowd that was here. We just killed it. We just used all that momentum and enthusiasm. We didn't want this to be our last game."
Welch said it was a true team effort to win the championship this season.
"Our team's worked so hard all season and we finally just put it all together for the whole game," she said. "I'm really proud of all the girls.
"Last year, we had two power [hitters], Amy Hogan and Nicole Schlick, and we would just feed them," added Welch. "This year, we all had a part of this win."
The Condors have six Grade 12 players heading to their final provincial championship in Parksville on Vancouver Island from Dec. 1 to 3. But the four younger girls played important roles in the Condors success, including Nicole Schlick's younger sister Heidi.
"She's just my mentor and I love playing like her," said Heidi about Nicole, who won two zone titles with Duchess Park.
The 16-year-old Schlick said the loss to the Roadrunners opened the team's eyes.
"When we lost we just knew we had to come out as strong as we can," said the middle-hitter. "We just didn't think ahead of ourselves and we played to the best of our abilities."
The Condors followed up the loss with a pair of victories over the South Peace Penguins from Dawson Creek, including Saturday's semifinal 3-0 (25-13, 25-19 and 25-20).
For the Roadrunners' right-side hitter Katelyn Hirtz the loss was easier to accept, knowing it was to a great team like the Condors.
"Today they had much harder hits," said Hirtz. "[Friday] we could've dug them, but today we couldn't get our hands on them quite as much.
"We kind of choked under pressure at first and it got us down and we couldn't fight our way out of the pit this time,"added the 17 year old. "We did pretty well at times, but..."
Hirtz's teammate Carson Law was named MVP for the Roadrunners, while Natalie MacLaren picked up the honours for Duchess Park and Devon Pratt earned the nod for the Penguins
