Halifax teams dominate at CAF Regional Volleyball
By Ryan Melanson,
Trident Staff
After hard-fought championship games, teams from CFB Halifax won gold medals at both the Men’s and Women’s Canadian Armed Forces Regional Volleyball Championships on March 1.
The tournaments were hosted together in Halifax beginning on February 26. The women’s side was played between teams from Halifax, Greenwood and Gagetown, while the men’s included teams from Halifax, Shearwater and Gagetown.
The Halifax Mariners women went undefeated through the round-robin portion of the week, and were victorious in the best-of-five gold-medal match against Greenwood, with scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-16 in favour of Halifax.
Captain Danielle Vortisch, who received the MVP award for Halifax following the finals, had praise for her teammates and respect for their opponents from 14 Wing, who put up a fight despite going down in three sets.
“They’re a good team, we played them earlier in the week and it was a really close game and they actually took a set from us. We had a team chat and did our best to adjust our game and capitalize on what we saw as their weaknesses. It worked out for us today.”
She added the Halifax team is a new roster composed of members from all three CAF elements who have worked hard to gel together as a unit. They’ll have more of that work ahead as they prepare for the CAF National Championship.
“The competition will be tougher, so we’re just going to do our best to practice and step it up,” Capt Vortisch said.
Like their counterparts on the women’s team, the Halifax men were undefeated through the week, winning straight sets in both their semifinal against Shearwater and the gold-medal game against Gagetown. The Mariners settled for silver against Gagetown in last year’s tournament.
“We were looking to come back with a vengeance this year, and I think we accomplished that,” said Captain Sam Gaudet, one of several CISM-level players on the team.
CFB Halifax Base Commander Captain (Navy) Andy MacKenzie was on hand for the gold-medal games, and said he was encouraged to see high-energy action on the court and a healthy crowd of spectators cheering on the teams at the Atlantic Fleet’s Dockyard gym in Halifax.
“CAF sports is getting busier and busier and it’s been great to see. We want to have as many teams as we can and as many athletes out participating as we can, because we know all of the benefits that come from these types of events. We had a great competition this week,” he said.
Nationals are set to take place in Borden, with the men playing the week of April 14-18, and the women scheduled for April 22-26.
