Congratulations to the Milton Edge 15u FIERCE girls, with a great indoor season end with a Silver medal at North American East Coast Championship in Pittsburgh, May 26-28, 2018! They played some excellent volleyball to finish 18th in North America out of 59 teams!!
Milton Edge Technical Director and head coach, John Canjar brought his OVA medal winning 15u Edge Fierce girls team to Pittsburgh PA, Memorial Day weekend, for their final tournament of the season -North American East Coast Championships.
His words summed it up – they very much competed.
Rising champions, they won Silver in the silver division, finishing 18th out of 60 teams from all over the eastern United States and Canada.
The first day (Saturday May 26) started slow with a loss against NVA 14 Black from Fargo, ND (25-15, 25-10, 25-15) and picked up with a win against AVA 15S from Ashburn, VA (25-23, 25-19, 21-25).
Sunday May 27th they lost their 1st 2 matches against EC Power 15 Dynamic from Pittsburgh, PA and CJVC 15 Fusion from Williamsburg, VA, and finished strong with a 3 set win against Pgh Elite 15 Black from Pittsburgh, PA.
On the last day of the tournament, the Edge 15u girls faced off in the Silver Division quarterfinals against 15 Premier Ohio Valley, OH. They won the 1st set 25-20, followed by a tight 2nd set 28-26, to win in 2 sets.
Their semifinal match was their amazing win against TeamD 15-stars from Detroit, Michigan. Losing 11-25 in the first set, coming back to win the 2nd set 25-19, and securing the match in the 3rd set 16-14. They followed with their Silver medal match, losing to Keystone VBC GBG 15 Green from Greensburg, PA, 25-12 and 25-17 in the final match.
Throughout the finals, there was awesome serving from Lilah Parn, incredible passing and defence from Aislinn Pedersen, steady front court force of Stephanie Karatsolias, super aggressive hitting by Jayna Canjar, terrific consistent setting and control from Zoe Tsiapalis, and sprawling/diving and relentless defence from Kiana Donaghey. Paige Weir, Jacqueline Giles and Sarah Mandel were also standouts for the wins. Yana Cvetkova played multiple roles in the team success. And Sharon Tabares, even though injured came in to serve key aces for victories in the tournament.
Head coach Canjar, and assistant coach George Pedersen were very pleased with the scope of this event and the caliber of competition with US teams. They plan to take next year’s Milton Edge 16u girls to the East Coast Championships in 2019.