The Subzero AAA girls won a hard-fought victory over Heat Yukon in the U14 Yukon volleyball Championships Sunday.

The championships were held at the Canada Games Centre in Whitehorse March 31 to April 2.

Subzero took both games, 24-20 and 27-25.

The Star spoke with Subzero U14 Girls AAA co-coaches Chanel Newell and Meghann Morrison after their big victory.

“It feels really good,” said Newell. “I do have to say we won every single game throughout the tournament, undefeated; couldn’t be more proud of our team. It’s a pretty big win for us.”

When asked what the Key to victory was for Subzero, Morrison replied, “Positive energy. The girls had fun the whole time; a lot of hard work.”

Newell added, “Really good teamwork. They worked together so well.”

Subzero played six games in total to get to the final.

The end of the game was a see-saw battle down to the wire.

“It was pretty intense,” said Newell. “A lot of the games were really, really close but our girls just came together, and the positivity was awesome.”

Newell added “Positivity and the skills there. They are a really, really good group of girls. Their skill level’s really high. The positivity, the energy, the way they work all together.”

Subzero is headed to B.C. Provincials in Abbotsford April 27-30.

The co-coaches are looking forward to the tourney.

“Absolutely. We’re prepared,” said Newell. “We’re feeling really good.”

Heat Yukon coach Lynn Pollard said “I think it went well. I think the girls played hard; they fought right til the end. Good defence; it was a good game.”

Pollard agreed that it was very intense at the end.

“It was. You could feel the energy, for sure.”

Heat Yukon is also heading down to Abbotsford for B.C. Provincials at the end of April.

Peter Grundmanis was hired by Volleyball Yukon to organize the Yukon Champs.

Grundmanis said the tournament’s been “great. There’s so many volleyball kids. It’s good to see them all coming back after a couple years of COVID … they’re all so happy to be here.”

The adult division had eight teams.

“The kids are watching that in awe, so it’s good to see the adults being visible in the volleyball community.

“Some of them were the older youth because there’s not many teams for them to play against, so they stepped up into the adult division and got some great experience and won a lot of games.

“It was a good fit, competition-wise, for the under 18 and some 17 teams to play in the adult, so that worked out well.”

There were 25 teams in the Youth Division.

“We had to combine a couple age divisions to make the pools work and give everybody meaningful competition so it worked out really well and I think the teams are well-prepared for travelling to national championships or B.C. or Alberta provincials, whichever one they decide to go to.”

One of the teams in the tournament was from Faro.

“We’re happy to see them and they represented their town very well.”

Grundmanis added, “I wish all the teams luck in their provincial championships. Some of them are going to Nationals. I hope this gave them a good taste of competition, to work the kinks out of their game plan and put a finishing touch on their season before they go out to represent the Yukon.”

The other division winners at the Yukon Champs were as follows:

Adult Co-ed: Kiss My Ace
Adult Women: YT Elite
U16 Girls: Heat 16U
U15 Boys: Subzero 51 Below