Mavericks take Ontario silver with 18-20 third-set defeat, club places pair of 17U boys’ volleyball teams in province’s top-5
May 6, 2025
By Isabella Disley
The Ottawa Maverick Volleyball Club had two 17U boys’ teams reach the top-tier quarterfinals at the 2025 Ontario Volleyball Championships. Photo: Courtney Caird / Ontario Volleyball
The Maverick Rangers 17-and-under boys’ volleyball team is set to head west for the May 15-17 Canadian Championships in Edmonton, with provincial silver medals in their saddlebags and solid pardners in the Maverick Marshalls.
The Rangers are coming off an epic showdown in the final of the Ontario Championships at the Kitchener-Waterloo corral, where they traded shots back-and-forth with Toronto’s Pakmen Gold before falling 15-25, 25-22, 18-20 on Apr. 22.
The Maverick Rangers will be bringing their three-knee touch pre-game superstition to the 2025 Canadian 17U Volleyball Championships. Photo provided
Winners of seven out of eight matches to reach the gold medal match, the Rangers very nearly pulled off an improbable comeback from one set down and a 16-8 deficit in the second set.
That was the point when Rangers head coach Bruce Dunning asked his assistant Mitch Proteau to address the troops.
“I had called three timeouts already. This was our fourth and last time out, if we lost the second set, and what I was saying wasn’t resonating with the boys,” recalls Dunning, a coaching veteran of 30+ years. “I’m not sure exactly what was said in that huddle, but he did a great job of getting them into the right frame of mind, so credit to Mitch for that turnaround.”
The Rangers gunned their way back into the set and ultimately earned several chances to win the gold before falling by the minimum margin.
“The team showed pretty good resilience,” highlights Dunning, a Gloucester High School teacher. “It turned into just a really outstanding match, and we had three match points but failed to finish it off. But overall, I was very proud of the way the boys handled themselves.”
Kai To (right) and Fisher Cation. Photo: Courtney Caird / Ontario Volleyball
The Rangers will be heading to Edmonton with an Ontario all-star weapon in their holster. Setter and co-captain Tristan King was given the honour from the provincial Grand Prix circuit.
“He is an exceptional athlete, extremely strong beach volleyball player as well. Tristan had a great provincials for us. He’s played well all season. He should be a good prospect for Team Ontario as well,” outlines Dunning, who was also particularly impressed with co-captain Eric Lapner’s play. “Eric had a simply outstanding tournament. It was neck and neck for him and for Tristan as to who is the MVP, but I think I’d have to give a nod to Eric. He just played outstanding in all aspects of his game.”
The Pakmen proved to be a major nemesis for the Mavs this season. The Toronto team took down the Rangers in the final of the season’s first tournament, and the Pakmen also eliminated Maverick counterpart Marshalls in a straight-set quarterfinal.
But the Mavs will nonetheless have two strong 17U teams competing on the national stage, both groups having practiced on-court three times a week along with two strength sessions since September.
Ontario silver-medallist Maverick Rangers. Photo: @mavsvball Instagram
The Marshalls are also gearing up to make history as the club’s first team to compete in the top division of the U.S. national championships come July 3-6 in Minnesota.
The Marshalls, who are continuing a fundraising campaign to help finance the trip, earned their spot among the top-36 during a February qualifier.
“It is a new frontier for us and as such we are very proud of these athletes and coaches and will be cheering them on in this illustrious event,” Maverick Volleyball Club president Kerry MacLean said in a news release.
The Ontario bronze-medallist Maverick Chargers 15U boys’ volleyball team. Photo: @mavsvball Instagram
Also during Ontario Championships season, the Maverick Chargers 15U boys earned a bronze medal, played at the same time in Kitchener-Waterloo as the 17U boys. The Chargers lost by the minimum 15-17 in their semi-final against MAC Steel, but rebounded for their second two-point, deciding-set victory of the tournament over Durham Attack Chaos to win the bronze.
Ottawa welcomed 184 15U girls’ teams to the EY Centre for their provincials from Apr. 24-26. The Maverick Ambush reached the tier 2 quarterfinals and were the top local finishers.
Ottawa also hosted the Canadian 14U volleyball championships at Carleton University this past weekend.
