Sault Ste. Marie’s only competitive volleyball club, Steel City Ignite saw their Ladies 18 squad play at the Ontario Volleyball Championships that ran from April 29th to May 1st in Waterloo, Ontario. This tournament featured 58 teams across the province in four divisions of competition playing out of the RIM Park Sports Complex.

With limited competition during the pandemic, the Ignite team, coached by David Arbuckle, entered the Ontario Championships ranked 3rd out of the 28 teams in Division 3.

Ingite ended the Round Robin with a record of 3 wins and 3 losses. Steel City had victories over Waterloo Tigers, Orillia Suns and the Grimsby Viper Force and recorded losses to the Superior Northern Wolves Gold (Thunder Bay), Rockland Servivors, Georgian Cubs Kodiak (Barrie).

The Ignite’s record had them playing in the Tier 2 playoffs on day 3. Steel City had a very good day of competition in the playoff round defeating the St. Thomas Express Dynamite (25-7, 25-14) and the Superior North Wolves Blue (Thunder Bay) to advance to the Semi-Finals. In the Semi-Finals, Steel City advanced past the Oakville Thunder Deluge in a very tight match (23-22, 25-17) to reach the finals.

In the finals, Steel City Ignite lost to the Peterborough Thunder in straight sets (15-25, 21-25) and settled for the silver medal. The Orillia Suns placed third in the division.

The Ignite club coaches and directors are looking forward to building on the success of the new club and invite anyone looking to play competition volleyball to attend their tryouts at the end of the Summer.

Source: Steel City Ignite 18U