Northern Chill feels the heat in Burlington

A great start to the day gave way to a slightly tougher finish as the Northern Chill U-17 girls opened their 2012-2013 tournament schedule with a visit to Burlington.

The Sudbury contingent looked very impressive in breezing through round-robin and quarter-final play at the Provincial Cup with three straight wins.

A strong serve receive by Manon Duhaime and others established the tone in Game 1 as the Chill defeated the Oakville Thunder White 25-21, 25-16.

Seeded third entering the tournament, the local ladies secured first place in the preliminary round, beating the Orangeville ACTS Elites 25-18, 18-25, 15-9, leaning heavily on some very tough serving in the third and decisive set.

Crossing over for quarter-final action, the Chill completed a sweep against Oakville, slipping past the Thunder Blue 22-25, 25-21 and 15-10.

Safely through to the final four, the Northern Ontario ladies suffered their first loss in a heartbreaker, falling 17-25, 25-20, 14-16 to the Niagara Rapids.

The loss appeared to take its toll as the Chill had trouble regrouping, beaten 24-26, 12-25 by the Hamilton MVC in the bronze-medal encounter. The final results left the Northern Chill U17 team ranked fourth in the field of nine squads, preparing for their next action on Jan. 12 when the team travels to Ottawa for Challenge Cup play.

The roster of the 2012-2013 version of the Chill U17 crew features Emily Clark, Alandria Czerkas, Stephanie Foucault, Amanda Kring, Lauren Kyle, Emily McDonald, Kelsey Pitre, Emily Sanders, Jillian Vallier, Manon Duhaime and coaches Craig Thomson and Amy Cliff.