Air Attack Black 14U girls volleyball team capped a memorable season in style by capturing Division Two gold in the second tier at Volleyball Canada’s National Club Championships in Edmonton.
The Richmond-based club closed out the tournament with three consecutive wins on the final day including a thrilling victory over Ontario’s Durham Attack Red Devils in the championship match. The clinching game amazingly went to 35-33.
“It was an exciting but bumpy road,” said Roman Pereyaslavsky, who guided the team along with assistant Yershin Yung. “We as coaches never doubted the team’s technical abilities. The ladies showed some phenomenal perseverance at key moments, bending but not breaking.
“For example, the final set was a hair-pulling nail biter that ended up with 15 minutes of both teams exchanging points back and forth until the fury and tension abruptly halted when our team won two points in a row.
“The mental part of the game made the true difference. I’m very proud of everything these young athletes were able to accomplish in one season. For many of them it was their first year playing volleyball and their progress is remarkable.”
Air Attack swept all three of its playoff matches — opening with a win over Saskatchewan’s HVC Green in the quarter-finals (25-15, 29-27), then getting past Manitoba’s Junior Bisons Black (25-14, 25-10).
The team includes: Jessica Tang, Tara Johnson, Kate Welbanks, Natasha Yee, Victoria Lacsamana, Erika Kwan, Tiffany Nguyen, Madeleine Yee, Catherine Yuen, Emma Birch, Vivian Zhan, and Samantha Jones.
The Nationals featured nearly 900 boys and girls teams competing in various age divisions at the Edmonton Expo Centre. Pereyaslavsky admitted the big stage and the magnitude of the event took his girls some getting used to.
“In three words, teamwork, training and tournament experience,” he said were the keys to his team’s destiny. “We’ve emphasized these fundamentals of team sports since the beginning of the season.
“Each and every athlete is important to our team and has a job to do. Extra scrimmages, attendance at every possible local tournament together with dry land training and faithful dedication for attending practices all contributed to their success at their first national competition.”
Pereyaslavsky and Yung are no stranger to success with the Air Attack program — reaching the podium at provincial and national championships with various teams, dating back to 2013. This year, Yung joined Pereyaslavsky as an assistant after also guiding the club’s 16U girls team to gold at provincials.
The team manager is Mona Tang.
