Dan Falloon
It was a neck-and-neck race for first place in the NorWOSSA junior boys’ volleyball league this season.
In the end, the Muskies (5-3) dropped both their matches in the final week, allowing the Dryden Eagles (6-2) to take over top spot and earn a first-round bye to the league final this afternoon at Fort High.
As such, the black-and-gold had to play the Kenora Broncos (1-7) in this morning’s semi-final, with the winner advancing to face the Eagles.
Muskie head coach John Gibson stressed his team learned a couple of valuable lessons in last week’s matches.
They won the first set against Kenora last Tuesday, and then the first two against Dryden on Thursday, before eventually losing both contests in five sets.
In addition to being sure to close out teams, Gibson said it’s difficult to get out of a deficit early in the set—something the Muskies will be wary of in the playoffs.
“We had won the first two and then in the fourth set, [we] came out flat,” he recalled.
“They dug a hole, they dropped the first seven points in the fourth set, and they ended up losing.
“If you do end up getting behind, it can be tough to come back, no matter who you’re playing against,” Gibson reasoned.
Although Gibson has been pleased with the play of each player on his team, he felt last week’s standouts were Scott Parsons and Caleb McIntosh.
“As a whole, they’ve done really, really well,” he lauded.
“Last week, Scott Parsons was attacking really well. He was really aggressive and he got a lot of kills on Thursday against Dryden.
“Defensively, Caleb McIntosh played a fantastic back row, where he was picking up everything with some great passes to the setter so we could run that offence,” Gibson added.
Despite giving Kenora its only win of the regular season last Tuesday, Gibson said his team still played well at most points against the Broncos, and was sure they would rebound in the playoffs.
“For the semi-final, I’m really confident with the way we’ve been playing and the way we matched up against them [Kenora] last week,” he enthused.
“Even though we did end up losing in five sets, we saw a really strong two sets with our starting six where we beat them 25-12 and 25-9.
“Again, it’s fundamentals,” Gibson stressed. “If we play the ball well and don’t make mistakes, and we keep attacking and running our offence the way we did last week, I’ll be really happy with that.”
If the Muskies knock off Kenora and make the final, Gibson is anticipating an evenly-contested match-up with the Eagles given the teams split their four NorWOSSA matches this year.
“I expect a really good final, assuming we do win and move on from the semi-final,” he remarked.
“We had some really good matches, two of them were five sets, and there was some great volleyball at both ends of the court.”
Gibson acknowledged a number of strengths Fort High will have to counter to be successful against Dryden should that match-up occur.
“Dryden is a stronger hitting team, so we expect we’ll have to play a stiffer defence,” he reasoned.
“Defensively, they’re better at covering the court, so when we do attack, we do have to hit to those open areas and hit around the block or over the block.”
Gibson was excited to have the chance to have the extra matches at home, but noted that while there are some decided advantages to the friendly confines, there can be some extra pressures, too.
“I think home court is an advantage,” he conceded. “Part of it is the rest and not having to travel, which can be a factor.
“[But] staying fresh and staying alert, and keeping them focused, is the biggest challenge when you have that many kids come in to watch,” he warned.
“It’s exciting, but for younger players, it can be intimidating and stressful.
“We want to take that out of their mind, and hopefully they can just focus on playing their game and enjoy having the fans behind them.”
