Oh, so close: Junior spikers almost upset Eagles

It’s not how you start a season but how you finish it.
After stumbling through the regular season with a 1-7 mark, the Muskie junior girls’ volleyball team almost pulled off the upset of the day in the NorWOSSA final against favoured Dryden here last Friday.
The black-and-gold took the Eagles to the fifth-and-deciding game before falling 15-5.
“We played as well as we have all season,” said Muskie co-coach Duane Roen after the exciting match in front of a packed house in the Fort High gym.
“I was tremendously proud of the team. They played their hearts out today,” echoed co-coach Struchan Gilson. “They played really well.”
The host Muskies had opened the best-of-five showdown with a 25-12 victory. Then after losing the second game 25-13, they had the Eagles on the ropes with a 25-16 win in the third one.
But Dryden fought back–taking the fourth game 25-14 before winning the deciding one 15-5.
Part of the Muskies’ strong play stemmed from a decision to switch their attack from a 6-2 to a 5-1 during the final two weeks of the season in preparation for the playoffs.
“The problem with having two setters was that we were setting setters and it was throwing off our game,” noted Roen.
Gilson agreed the change definitely helped their turnaround in the playoffs.
Earlier Friday, the Muskies easily downed the Kenora Broncos 25-21, 25-12, and 25-20 in the best-of-five semi-final. Gilson said they were near flawless at times during the match, which they carried over in their play against Dryden.
Did Gilson really think his team had a shot at winning the final?
“Like, I told you before, I thought we could win,” he stressed. “We were just a hair away from winning that in five–we could have won.”