The title was three years in the making.
Since 2016, the Thornlea Thunder senior boys volleyball team had a plan to work toward winning the York Region Athletic Association (YRAA) double-A crown. Now, it’s mission accomplished, as they rolled through the championship match, played at Richmond Hill High School.
The numbers during league play were underwhelming at best for the Thunder, who went 6-7 to finish 13th of 27 teams in Tier two competition. But, it was one bad stretch which accounted for almost all of Thornlea’s losses.
Following an overnight tournament at Waterloo, which served to galvanize the charges, the Thunder went on a tear.
Thornlea stayed upbeat as they continued to improve and it paid off.
Thornlea took four sets to dispatch Langstaff in its opening playoff game, but then were really impressive by sweeping Renaissance, just a couple of days later, a team who went 10-2 in Tier two play. After coming from a set down to knock out Toronto District Christian, Thornlea advanced to the finals, setting up a matchup with Jean Vanier, a team they had defeated in October.
The Thunder came out with a bang thanks to Kang, who served up five aces in an 11-point run to open the first set.
Thornlea played with confidence and familiarity, which was largely a product of having kept predominantly the same unit together over the past three seasons.
After handily winning the opening two sets, Sinclair had the opportunity to send his team to the provincial championship (OFSAA) with a serve. As he set up, a smile crept across his face.
The shot sent Thornlea to OFSAA at Sydenham, where the Thunder went 1-3 in round-robin play before falling to the eventual antique-bronze runners-up LaSalle in the consolation quarter-finals. But the Thunder were thrilled for the opportunity, as their hard work had paid off.