Senior spikers improve at tourney

Progress sometimes takes time.
Muskie senior boys’ volleyball coach Brian Love has been preaching patience with fans all season—insisting his squad is on the verge of something special despite the fact they’ve yet to win a match in NorWOSSA play.
As the losses mounted, Love remained positive—pleased with the progress his team was making in executing their new offensive and defensive systems.
It appears Love’s calls for patience were not without merit.
The Muskies were in Dryden over the weekend to compete in a 12-team tournament and finally saw a return on all the hard work they’ve been putting in at practice.
The senior spikers—competing against five other teams in round-robin play—finished second in their pool before losing to Whitefish Bay in straight set (25-19 and 25-15) in the quarter-finals.
“We played better than .500 ball,” Love remarked in a phone interview Monday afternoon.
“In pool play, the boys played very well. I think this is going to be the ‘TSN Turning Point.’”
The black-and-gold opened action Friday by sweeping Dennis Franklin Cromarty (Thunder Bay) by scores of 25-15, 25-22 before earning a split against the Westgate Tigers—also of Thunder Bay—(25-22, 21-25) and then host Dryden (16-25, 25-15).
The Muskies completed round-robin play Saturday morning by sweeping Sioux Lookout (25-17, 25-23) before losing to St. Thomas Aquinas of Kenora (19-25, 15-25).
Muskies Sean Love and Garnet Cornell said the difference between their play in Dryden this past weekend and the form they’ve displayed so far this season in NorWOSSA play boils down to better communication and team play.
“We were playing together better and sort of meshed together a lot better,” Sean Love said. “We started playing more like a team.”
“In the tournament, we talked a lot more, we got more involved with what was happening,” Cornell added. “We weren’t sleeping on the court.”
Coach Love also shortened his bench for the first time this season, choosing to give more minutes to the players he thinks give the team the best chance to win.
“We had only nine guys travel to Dryden and I think that was a major contributing factor to the guys’ success,” the coach said, adding it’s a strategy he plans to employ in league play.
“I’m looking for consistency and commitment to the team’s goals as opposed to individual players playing well,” he stressed.
“I think that has been a major stumbling block for us all season.”
Both coach and players alike were buoyed by the positive results achieved in Dryden and believe they signalled the first step towards attaining the Muskies’ goals set at the beginning of the season—namely a trip to the all-Ontarios.
“We definitely want to come together for the playoffs and we’d definitely like to make a run at [qualifying for] OFSAA, especially because it’s in Dryden,” Sean Love said.
“Going there would be a great experience for a lot of the guys.”
“If we keep on at this rate, we’ll be a way better team than we were at the beginning [of the season],” Cornell added.
It remains to be seen whether the Muskies will be able to build on their first taste of success but for now, they simply are happy to be moving in the right direction.