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Congrats to our Shock 16U girls team on their 2019 Div 1 Tier 1 National Championship!
Shock opened the tournament on Day 1 as the number 1 Manitoba seed which was only good enough to be the number 8 seed overall. We began our day against Oxbow Black Knights from Saskatchewan and came out on top with scores of 25-10, 25-18. The second match was our most efficient on Saturday as we overcame the Dinos Raptors 25-16, 25-16. Our final match was against 403 Selects which happened to be the same club that had beaten us in our final match of Day 1 the year previous. The girls overcome some inconsistent play in the first set to win the match 27-25, 25-18. Day 2 at Nationals is Power Pool day; you either finish top two in the pool or drop out of contention with the best possible finish after that being 9th. Our first match of the morning resulted in a two set victory of the Winnipeg Wesmen by scores of 28-26 and 25-13. We moved on to play another Alberta team, The Panthers, and were reasonably steady to dispatch them by scores of 25-15, 25-5. By winning our first two matches on Sunday, we automatically qualified for the quarter finals the next morning as our opponent for the third match that day also came in with a 2-0 record. Pakmen, the number 1 Ontario and number 1 overall seed, was our next task. We may have surprised them a bit on Day 2 as we took it by scores of 18-25, 25-15 and 15-11. That result gave us the top placing in our Power Pool for the day. The first match of Day 3 is always the most difficult; it's win or go home with nothing. We were up against The Pandas who were Alberta's provincial champions in 2019. Shock did not play very well but managed to gut out the win 22-25, 25-18 and 15-8 to move on. We headed into the semi-finals and met up with another team that had dealt us a big loss the year before; Halton Hurricanes Black. For the second time in three days we were able to exact a bit of revenge and sent them to the bronze medal match by winning 25-22, 25-19. We were now in a position to complete our second team goal of the season; claiming The National Championship. Pakmen waited once more and we knew they would be looking to even the score. We came out hard in set one and raced out to a big lead. By the time were were at our 11th point, Pakmen had used both of their time-outs in attempt to settle down and turn the tide a bit. It worked, to a degree, but our lead was too big and we took the first set 25-20. The second set was a complete reversal and Shock had utilized their time outs by the same point as Pakmen had in the first set. We ultimately lost by the same score and headed to a third with nothing separating the two clubs. The third set proved to be a fitting end to the day with back and forth aggression, lead changes and momentum swings throughout. It is what we wanted in a National final; a chance to play and prove ourselves against a great team in a pressure situation. Both teams played as hard as they could until the end with Shock prevailing 17-15. Congratulations to all of the all-stars selected for the tournament but a special congrats to our girls who were chosen - Kendra Andjelic, Carleigh Smith-Banfield and MVP Andi Almonte. The coaching staff would like to acknowledge the work ethic and cohesiveness of the players as well as the huge support our parent group gave to both the girls and the coaches over the course of the season. We cannot thank you all enough and it's hard to express just how much you need that to compete and win at a high level.
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Life After Omaha ……… March 2/3 – Winman 17U tournament – 1st March 17/18 – Westman 16U tournament – 1st March 30/31 – Cats 17U tournament – 1st April 12/13 – Cobras 16U tournament – 2nd April 19/20/21 – Best of The West 16U – 1st The next tournament on our schedule was the 16U Manitoba Provincial Championships held in Brandon on May 4/5. As a result of our second place finish three weeks earlier, Shock headed into the event as the 2nd seed overall. Day 1 power pool saw that change as the girls got the job done and finished with 2 set wins over The Cobras and Jr. Wesmen squads while needing 3 sets to push past Club West. Playoffs began the next day with a Round of 16 win over Cats South followed by a quarter-final victory over the Gold team from The Jr. Bisons club. This set up another meeting with The Jr. Wesmen in the semi-final match. Shock was able to pull away in each set to win the match by scores of 25-13 and 25-16 to set up a rematch with Club West for the gold medal. The finals saw each team come out aggressive with some big kills and blocks setting the tone in the first set. Points were hard to come by and the teams played hard for everything. Ultimately, Shock took the first set 25-23. Set number two opened with some serving that proved to give us trouble early on as Club West opened up a 9-2 lead. The girls were able to bear down and close the gap getting back to even at 21-21. Some big swings after that from Club West swayed the outcome in their favor and Shock went down 23-25. Winning the coin toss for the third set proved to be a very big advantage as we raced out to a 7-0 lead with some very strong serving. It was 8-1 at the changeover and our girls never looked back in taking the third set 15-3. As always, we needed a total team effort to get the job done and we also congratulate tournament all-stars Andi Almonte and Carleigh Smith-Banfield as well as tournament MVP Kendra Andjelic. The girls leave our province again shortly to compete at the 16u Volleyball Canada National Championships in Regina and are looking forward to the challenge. Best of luck ladies! Go SHOCK!   The Shock 16U team began their 2019 season with a three day event at The Asics President’s Day Classic in Omaha, Nebraska on February 18, 19 and 20. With a team that has six new additions, Shock packed up and headed down to the U.S. for their first competition as a new group. We opened the day against a smaller Kansas team that hopefully taught us a lesson about not being ready to play as we dropped the match in the third set 14-16. That result put us in a position in which we had to win both of our remaining matches in order to, at the very least, have a say in whether or not we moved on in the top bracket. The girls stepped up and played better the rest of the day ultimately overcoming a very rough start in the last match of the day (11-25 in the first set) to finish at 2-1 and first in our pool. Sunday came and we had a goal of trying to build on our finish from Saturday. We played very well at times but were still subject to some inconsistent play. Shock was able to play steady enough to come out of Day 2 with a record of 3-0 setting us up for the round of 16 in the top bracket. With all three day tournaments, you look forward to Day 3 the most when you are still playing for it all. What was really nice to see in Omaha was a single elimination bracket the rest of the way; the fact that you have to keep winning to keep playing puts a heavy emphasis on controlling your errors. The team played efficiently in the first two matches of the day and won both in straight sets. Shock would now face Mizuno Northern Lights from Minnesota which tends to field big, strong teams at the higher end of their club. We got exactly that and MNL came out quickly with multiple combinations and a fast pace. Once we adapted a bit to that, we settled in but ultimately fell 23-25 in the first. The second set was much more consistent and the girls were able to deal with the big MNL squad by putting up a few decent sized blocks of their own. Our opponent got a bit deflated and we ran away from them at 25-15. It came down to the third set with both teams fighting hard for every point. With the score at 9-9, we ran into a few mental errors, a few physical errors and an opponent who was experienced in getting the job done. Shock dropped the third set 15-10 which ended our tournament run at the semi-finals. The weekend was a good start for the new group and quite a few important goals for the weekend were attained. P.S. Good luck to our basketball players as they try to make a deep run in playoffs and Provincials!  Thank you to everyone who has contacted the SHOCK Volleyball Club inquiring about what teams our club will be running this year. To confirm, SHOCK will only be running a 16u program this year. After years of running several teams at a variety of age groups, SHOCK will focus on the 16u level this season as the number of coaches and athletes in our program has changed a bit this year. The SHOCK Volleyball Club will continue to provide athletes with a competitive training environment and opportunities to be seen by other clubs and coaches around the country each year. We very much look forward to the competition in the gym this club season and many more ahead! Please check back next year to see what age groups our club will be hosting next season.
Thanks and best of luck to all teams this club season!  Thank you to everyone who has contacted us this summer asking about summer and fall camp information! At this time, the SHOCK Volleyball Club does not have plans to run summer and fall camps, but we are looking into the possibility of adding a fall series to the slate to ensure that athletes have a chance to get some extra touches before the club season starts up. Please check back soon as we are looking to have information regarding fall camp dates within the next couple of weeks. Best of luck to all athletes beginning their school seasons shortly, enjoy the last bit of summer vacation!
Go SHOCK!  The 2018 club season saw the SHOCK 15U girls begin defense of their Provincial and Western Canadian Championships by playing in the 16U Gold Division at the President's Day Classic in Minneapolis in mid-February. Inconsistency was to be expected and that was the case as the girls got their first chance to compete with a new line-up. Pool play on Day 1 resulted in SHOCK dropping from the top 16. They rebounded on Day 2 however, winning all of their matches, playing solidly and finishing the tournament as the highest ranked Manitoba team playing in that division. The following week was the first test at their own age group with the Volleyball Manitoba Premier Tournament. Steady play was enough to get them to the final where they lost to a better Dynamo Red team. At this point in the year, the game was on and the process to close the gap began. Two 16U tournaments followed in March and, although expectations were higher than the results, Shock continued to make progress and finished higher in each event played. A fifth place finish at the Bison 16U tournament in early April continued the trend. Execution of a faster offense was the goal and it was finally starting to come together a bit for the team. The Dynamo Red 15U Tournament was next and it was an important one for the team. While play was still not as consistent as the team would like, the final match was contested again with Dynamo Red. Dynamo took the first set handily and was then forced to a third by the second set win by Shock. The girls showed heart and ultimately earned a tough 15-13 final set victory to take the title. The next two weeks were hard as we tried to put some finishing touches on an all-around game that suffered while we put a faster offense in place. While preparing for The Manitoba Provincial Championship, the team encountered a small set back with an injury three days prior to competition. The girls came together even more and did their jobs well to allow the team to advance to the semi-finals without putting additional stress on our injured player. A solid tape job by the athletic therapist on site provided us the opportunity to compete with our complete team and Shock took advantage. A two set victory over Club West in the semi-final match was followed up by a two set win over Dynamo Red to secure the second consecutive Manitoba Provincial Championship for this group. A total team effort was absolutely required to come out on top but selections of individual awards included all-stars Kaija Dueck, Dylan Moyer and tournament MVP Andi Almonte. We look forward to The Volleyball Canada National Championships in Edmonton taking place May 17-19 and will give our best effort to defend our title. Great job girls and good luck in Edmonton!
Fresh off their Western National Championship from a year ago, the SHOCK 15u team will be holding open tryouts for anyone wishing to play on the team this season. Please click here to find out all the information and register your daughter today!
With only a short time before school season is upon us once again, take a look to see if your daughter (entering Grade11/12) can sharpen up her skills before tryouts! If you haven't been touching the ball all summer, wish to experience a different training environment, or get back in the gym with your friends, come and take a look as SHOCK is offering training opportunities for athletes entering most high school grade levels. The 15u camp is FULL, but have a look at the 17u/18u camp with only a few spots left. See you soon!
Another trip to Nationals, another bronze medal for the SHOCK 16's this season! After a long year of training in the gym, competing every other weekend, and a long 3 day battle in Calgary, this group defended their Bronze medal from Nationals last year, and clawed their way all weekend to earn another spot on the podium for an All-Manitoba sweep of the medals in Division 1, Tier 1 play.
After a disappointing finish to the Manitoba club season where SHOCK dropped the semi-final match at provincials in a very well executed match by Dynamo, the girls shifted their focus to the national stage, and worked hard in the gym for the last two weeks of training to be prepared to compete against the best competition this side of the Ontario border. By finishing 3rd at provincials, day 1 would be no easy task in a pool with the Alberta champions, and two other competitive groups from AB and BC. After a shift in the line up, SHOCK came out strong to begin the weekend with a very solid performance against ACE of Clubs (AB), winning in straight sets to start the tournament. The next match featured the Alberta champs, Canuck Black, in what would be the most important match of the day. A tight battle in the first set set the stage for SHOCK to climb back after giving up an early run of points to win 25-23. The MB side then took control in the 2nd set, executing their game plan flawlessly and running away with a 25-16 victory over a very skilled and hard working group. After a bumpy start in the 3rd match of the day, SHOCK rebounded to win the next two sets easily, and accomplished their goal of finishing 3-0 on day 1. It only gets harder at Nationals, and day 2 provided a chance for SHOCK to hit the floor against Dynamo again after losing to them in the semi-final just two weeks prior. After winning the first match in power pools, SHOCK executed their own game plan to perfection against a very determined and strong willed group, exacting a bit of revenge for the loss at provincials, defeating Dynamo by scores of 25-9 and 25-18. Match #3 of the day saw a real TEAM effort, as the group went down 7-0 to begin the first set, but were relieved by some talent coming off the bench to help steer things back in the right direction. Olivia Weremy had 6 kills in the first set to pace the offence, and Abi Almonte, Mia Hildebrandt and Selva Planincic all came off the bench to have a huge impact on the outcome of the match. Great serving from Abi, and booming kills from Mia and Selva helped SHOCK stay perfect on move to 3-0 on day 2 of the competition. Day 3 had SHOCK facing off against the Pandas from AB, a much more physical team. After dropping the first set, and being at match point (24-22) in the second set, the girls showed tremendous fight and earned a second set victory, only to follow it up with a solid 3rd set effort to win the match in 3 sets, and head back to the semi-final vs the Jr. Bisons for the second year in a row. The Jr. Bisons were again too much for SHOCK on this day as they earned a 2-0 win to move to the gold medal, while SHOCK awaited the outcome of the other match to see who their opponent would be. In the Bronze medal match, SHOCK came out flying vs the Cougars (AB), and played a very disciplined match with contributions from all areas of the floor to earn their second straight bronze medal at the National Championships. Congratulations to all of the athletes from this fantastic group for a well earned break this summer! Special acknowledgement to Victoria Duester who earned the tournament All-Star award for the girls this weekend. Great finish to the season for the 3 year SHOCK veteran, congrats Victoria! Enjoy the summer off, and we will see you back in the gym next season! The SHOCK 14's travelled to Abbotsford on their quest to follow up their provincial championship win with some more hardware to bring home after a long season of training. Day 1 and 2 saw the girls play some tough competition, and set themselves up for a quarter final match up vs the Jr Bisons who they took down by scores of 25-19 and 25-15. The semi-final match up featured a very talented group from Fraser Valley, BC, and after rolling through the first set 25-8, FVVC fought back in the second frame to win 25-23, forcing a third set. SHOCK came out of the blocks flying, racing to an early lead and cruised to a 15-4 win to head to their first Western National Final and set up an all-Manitoba final vs Club West. Set 1 saw a bit of everything with some anxious plays on both sides of the net to start the match, but Club West settled in and built a big lead in the first, one from which the SHOCK side could not return, taking the first set 25-20. As is always a possibility in the match like this, the 2nd set was very different, and saw SHOCK serving bullets from the baseline to pad their own lead, easily taking the 2nd set by a score of 15-11 to force another 3rd set. Back and forth throughout the set, SHOCK pulled away at the end thanks to some good transition work, and some timely kills from Andi Almonte. The girls were very excited to capture their first National title, and will look to get a chance to defend next year at the 15u level. Congratulations to all of the athletes, coaches and parents of this group for their hard work all season long. Enjoy the summer!
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AuthorSHOCK Volleyball Club Archives
May 2019
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