Stampeders gallop to OFSAA volleyball

   First WOSSAA girls title in 25 years sends Parkside to the provincial championship

  February 26 (with updates) , 2026

By Rob J. Ross

ST. THOMAS - A 25-year drought is over.

The Parkside Stampeders are returning to OFSAA girls volleyball.

Parkside swept the Western Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association (WOSSAA) AA senior girls volleyball gold medal match in three games, dusting Stratford St. Mike's, 25-23, 25-18, 25-13, February 25 on home court.

The Stampeders head to OFSAA, the provincial high school  championship, for the first time since 2001, when the team brought home a bronze medal.

"Finally. It feels so good," expressed Parkside captain Blaire Dawdy. "I never wanted it so bad. I could see in all of our eyes we wanted it. This is definitely my last chance and I'm so glad it happened."

In the semifinals, Parkside ousted London Central in three games, while St. Mike's beat Woodstock CI, three games to one.

"OFSAA has been our final goal, so we've been practising and training for that the whole time," said Kade Kewley. "When we starting serving strong, that was giving us momentum and we continued it from there."

Game one was a back and forth battle with both sides trading punches.

"It was very similar to our semifinal. Just jitters and nerves and understanding how big the moment is and not wanting to make mistakes," Parkside coach Chris Palmer said. "When that first set got to like 15-15, we settled in and had the opportunity to play loose ball."

The Stampeders squeaked out a key opening victory and carried that momentum into game two.

Holding a 10-6 advantage, the Stampeders offence led by Dawdy, Kerris Moore and Brooke Buttinger, started pounding the ball down all over the St. Mike's court.
Parkside finished off game two with Buttinger serving.

"Knowing that we have people who can put the ball down when we need it, is very key," Buttinger said. "We work really hard defensively, but being able to transition that in to our offence and really put the ball down is important."

The Stampeders put their foot down in game three, shooting out to a 10-1 lead. St. Mike's made a 7-2 run to stay in the game at 19-12, but Parkside had the brooms out minutes later.

"To have the girls play so well today as a group was really nice to see," Palmer said.

OFSAA has been on the minds of the Stampeders throughout the season and likely since last year, after losing in the WOSSAA final to Oakridge.

"Right from the beginning of the year we knew it was a possibility. We knew we had a strong group," Palmer said. "We really wanted to go. Three of them (Dawdy, Brooklyn Roberts-Neef) are volleyball, basketball. They've been so close to OFSAA so many times and lost in finals, lost in semifinals. The Grade 11s were rallying around them."

The Grade 11 group of Buttinger, Moore, Emilee Mrozowski, Carerah Perry and Ashley Pathy-Hernazdez, have won three consecutive WOSSAA titles, two at the junior level.

OFSAA is March 9-11 at Conestoga College in Kitchener.

"We'll play our game. There's so much good volleyball in our area, that the WOSSAA representative has had success," Palmer said. "We'll see great competition, but I would expect we'll be able to hold our own with anybody and no one's going to blow us off the floor."
 

Parkside is the three seed, based on their season's record, coming from a strong region and that the Oakridge Oaks, now at AAA, won OFSAA AA gold a year ago.

"I expect really hard competition and I expect we're going to have to work our butts off," Kewley said. "We want to do the best that we can and see how far we can go."

 

Around WOSSAA

WOSSAA AA junior host London South defeated Parkside in the bronze medal match, in three games.

St. Mike's won gold in a five game affair over Ingersoll.

At the senior level in 1-A, host St. Marys DCVI squeaked out a victory in the gold match against the London Christian Pioneers, taking the fifth and deciding game, 16-14. St. Marys almost fell behind two games to one, but pulled out 28-26 win in game two.

Two days earlier London Christian defeated the West Elgin Wildcats, three games to one, in the TVRA Central Division 1-A final, 25-23, 21-25, 25-18, 25-12.

In junior London Christian needed only six games to become WOSSAA champs, sweeping Goderich in the gold match and Woodstock Notre Dame in the semifinals.

Mitchell took the WOSSAA junior 1-A bronze medal.

The Pioneers also beat West Elgin in the TVRA Central junior 1-A final, three games to one.

London Aquinas edged city rival Oakridge, in the WOSSAA AAA senior final, three games to two, for their school's first trip to OFSAA.

Strathroy District took the AAA bronze medal.

The Medway Cowboys won junior AAA WOSSAA sweeping Strathroy, while London CCH took the bronze medal.

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