Despite nation-wide delays to tournament series, now already deep into August, our Canadian women are in the middle of the spike season. After what seemed like an endless hiatus from the competitive side of the sport, female roundnetters have gotten back to their provincial tours. Some go getters have even been traveling out of province or country! In this 3min read, let’s briefly catch up on the ladies’ scenes in Quebec, Ontario, and the Western provinces.

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The fédération québecoise de roundnet (FQR) has hosted 4 tournaments, 3 of which featured women’s divisions. Besides the queen of the realm tournament won by Nancy Gougeon in Rive-Nord, Sarah Boucher Gratton has been conquering podiums. Impressively, it didn’t matter who Sarah teamed up with – she took first in Gatineau (9 teams) and Sherbrooke (8 teams) with Jacinthe Provençal and Marilyne Bélisle, respectively. Another talented baller worth shouting out is Frede Crete, who prefers to play in the open elite division at FQR events. Recently, the 2019 SRA Nationals finalist continued the Black Ice saga with legendary Jordi Vigna at the Lake Tahoe SRA sanctioned event (2021) to take a well deserved second place. Canadians are constantly treated by her performances on roundnet’s biggest stages.

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Making our way west, the Roundnet Ontario Tour Circuit (ROTC) has offered solid turn outs in the women’s division so far this season. They had a record attendance of 11 teams in Mississauga and then fell one team short of matching it in Wasaga three weeks later. With Miss Novy (Marissa Brubacher/Stacey Novy) and Bao Baes (Dianne Fonseca/Chelsea Cheung) winning the ROTC#1 and ROTC#2, this left Si Reinas (Kayla Lariviere/Victoria Desfosses) coming up just short on both occasions. It will be interesting to see if the recent HTR clinics with SRA Pro Preston Bies send Si Reinas and other teams to new heights at ROTC#3 in Waterloo.

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BC and Alberta arguably possess the biggest reservoir of potential for women’s roundnet in Canada (I may have a slight bias). A lot of this promise can’t be described without talking about Calgarian McKenzie Lowes. Bagging back to back tournament wins in August, one of them at the national record breaking 17 team women’s division in the BC Open, McKenzie is truly on another level out West. However, I’m not convinced that these western provinces have tapped into the depths of possible talent, like the “Olivia Jenkins-esque” Nicole Reid that co-championed the BC Open with McKenzie. Shockingly, Nicole didn’t have a partner until the eve of the BC Open when unforeseen circumstances left McKenzie without her regular partner. In my opinion, finding and engaging these incredible (but hidden) female players will be the most challenging, but also most rewarding endeavour for Canadian roundnet.

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Whether you’re topping podiums or just out for the love of the game, we hope to see all you talented and ambitious ladies on October 9th for Canada’s first ever national championships. Come represent your province and the spike community that you call home! Not only are nationals a chance to further the growth of the women’s game, but Canada hopes to stake its claim as a worldwide leader in women’s roundnet.