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The Canadian Champion, Friday, February 27, 2009 - A27 g, ~ A SPORTS EDITOR: STEVE LeBLANC e-mail sleblanc@ milttofcafadianchampion-con' Drury stuns Aquinas to become champions By Herb Garbutt HALTON MEDIA GROUP T hce EC. Dirs Sptarts putltogc thi.r as~ dominant a performTance as yîiu xil sce ni high scbool volley'iball, And tiiî ttmiing coîld Ino ia\bclcitc i i lic -qii ians tîallici.l f in il,î qc iiq - loss in which they lookcd con[uscci ardctniir- ganizeci to win the Halton senior girls' A/AA volîcybal i tte Àith two sets in which they mowed down the delending champions with the ruthlessness of proiessional assassin. "I bey just sucked the lite out of us," said St. Thomas Aquinas coacb Peter Szpakowskî after Drurys 16-25, 25-5, 15-3 victory Tbursday afternoon. "As mucb as we trîed, we just couidn't come back from tbat. " 'That' was Dntry's commanding victory in tbe second set, wbicb tbey opened with 12 consecutive points on its way to a 21-1 lead. What made 'that' so surprising was that it looked like Drttry was tn for a short atter- noon after a disastrous opening set in wbîcb they neyer beld or sbared the lead. But Drury turned the tables in tbe final two sets, neyer trailing in eitber. "We've been waiting for this for a long timne," said the Spartans' Meg Rector, wbo drove home five of the last seven points to secure the championsbip. "It feels great." Aquinas bad little in the way of answer- ing the triple attack of Tory McCutcheon and the Rector sisters, Meg and Bni. Aquinas attempted to tip the bail over them in the opening set but once Drurys defensive cov- erage improvedi and they came up with some blocks, it was ail over. Nicole Woods served up the first 12 points of the second set, a run in whicb McCutcheon delivered five kilis, pounding the bail to the floor in front of Aquinas' beip- GOTTA HAND IT TO THEM: Members of the E.C. Drury Spartans, f rom left Tasha Brunner, Tory McCutcheofl, Bri Rector, Danielle Munday, Meg Rector and Jenn Armstrong raise their hands in celebration after wvinning a point in Thursday's Haton senior girls' volleyball final, The Spartans rallîed for a t16-25, 25-5, 15-3 victory over the defendîng champions, St. Thomas Aquinas Raders. less defenders. -We knew we could play like that,' said McCutcheon, wbo is bound for the University of Central Florida next year. "We just bad a few nerves at the beginning. Once we got rid of the nerves, we were bitting preîty good." Woods took a simple approacb to keep- ing the roll going. I just tried to pretend every serve was the first serve," she said. It seemed to work, tbough sbe also kept tbe streak rolling by diving flat out to keep a bail alive for the ltb point. When Woods finaily dîd miss long on a serve, Aquinas couidn't capitalize and MeCutcheon reeled off nine in row to cap a ridiculous stretch tbat ended when a bal dropped between two Drury players - a rare miscue in the last two sets. "We just didn't go crazy," said Meg Rector. "We just kept it simple so, we didn't do something like touch the net." points so, ncredîble. There are so many tbîngs i that can go wrong - a missed serve, a net violation, a mîssed spike - thai it is almost impossible to put together sucb a long run, particularly in a title game against tbe two- time defending champion. Aquinas sbowed a brief sign of lite by staving off set point twice but wben Drury ran off five straîght to take a 6-1 lead in tbe deciding set, ît was A but over. "Tbey bave tbree girls that can smash the bail," said Szpakowski. "We knew we could- n't go toe-to-toe witb tbem." ht wasn't jusi the force they bit tbe bal witb but the preciston. "Our big girls were jusi pickîng spots at xiii," said Drury coach Kevin Houldcroft. Houldcroft delivered a simple message after the opening set, "Girls you dont want to go out like tbis." Particularly after the year Drury enjoyed. Tbey had swept 14 consecutive matches in in the opener was their first loss in 29 sets. It would have been easy for Drury to fold after the loss but instead, with their season on the line, tbey responded with their best volley- bail of the season. Peters teams are always good. They always have been," said Houldcroft. "'m just so happy for the girls and to have the people from Drury corne out and support us, l'm getttflg very emottoli." Drurys comeback assures tbem of being able to stir some more ernotions. They wili now play in the Ontario Federation of Sebools Athletic Association (OFSAA) AA cbampionsbip in Kenora. Tbe provincial higli sebool tourniament begins Match 9. The Milton District Mustafgs won, the junor giWs'volieybafl chupi- onship by beating St. Thomas A ~inas Sec Wednesdayý Champion for de"al. w KIlgove (ut xMEow Wtawau) CAMADAS lST AB3S Brakes - Front End Service AIE BLUE %CAL OF * Race Car Setups EXCELLENCE FACiLITY* Front & Four Wheel Laser Alignmeflt 22 ears Experience www.can-alignmlenlt.com SSCOTT MURFIN 905-690-3100