Playing in their first tournament of the season, Mine Centre 1 showed they were in mid-season form as they cruised to the championship title of an eight-team tourney at Robert Moore on Saturday.
Mine Centre 1–made up of players in grades seven and eight–put the finishing touches on a solid day of volleyball by dumping St. Francis 2 in two-straight games (15-3 and 15-7).
While they won the first game quite handily, the squad had a much tougher time in the second one.
Tied at 6-6, with both teams missing several serves along the way, Mine Centre 1 finally got back on track, scoring nine of the final 10 points.
“It was a team effort. All the girls played extremely well,” said coach Jen Leishman. “We started to focus on serving better in the second game and we returned serves better.”
Leishman said the key to winning the tournament was their ability to receive serves in order to pass the ball to the setter and, eventually, to the person hitting from the power position.
“I think it really threw off the other teams because we have a couple of girls who can spike well,” Leishman noted. “We were focused on calling the ball, we controlled the game, and weren’t just passing the ball over the net.
“Most teams just basically pass the ball over the net but we take it to the next step and I think that’s what makes a difference,” she remarked.
Each team played three matches in the round-robin, with the top team from each pool meeting in the final. Teams earned two points for each win and a single point for each loss.
Mine Centre 1 was the lone team to finish with a perfect 12 points in three matches. Finishing in second with 11 points was St. Francis 2, followed by Robert Moore and Riverview (10), Mine Centre 2 (nine), Crossroads 2 (seven), and St. Francis 1 and Crossroads 1 (six).
The next elementary volleyball tournament action goes this Saturday in Atikokan.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
