Mitch Calvert
It’s about time.
After a prolonged layoff due to a pair of cancellations, coupled with the recent exam break, the Muskie senior and junior girls’ volleyball teams finally are back on the court for real later today when they host the Dryden Eagles, signalling their first NorWOSSA action since Jan. 8.
Both squads have to amp up the intensity in a hurry as the condensed schedule has them playing four league matches before hosting the NorWOSSA championships on Feb. 20.
“We just kept running our regular practices during those cancellations [Jan. 13 and Jan. 15],” Muskie senior coach Duane Roen noted.
“We started to run a few different offensive plays, and just tried to fine-tune them up a bit during that spare time, but it was just optional practices during the exam break, obviously,” he added.
“Starting [today], it’s going to be very hectic right until NorWOSSA [finals],” Roen conceded.
The senior Muskies sport a 2-2 record in NorWOSSA play heading into today’s showdown with Dryden, having lost both their prior matches this season to the unbeaten Eagles (4-0).
“It’s getting to be a mental game for a number of [my players], and it’s tough right now because we had a tournament [Jan. 9-10] and we were starting to build off that, and then it just stopped [due to cancellations and exams],” Roen explained.
“We still have the second half of our season to play yet with very few practices left,” he stressed. “[But] I’m optimistic. The kids have the ability, and now will be the push to really work in those starting players.
“The whole idea now is to see where our weaknesses are in that group of [starters], so we can focus our practices on those problems and trying to remove them before [the playoffs].”
The seniors have proven they can compete with some of the best teams in the region at times, but haven’t been able to do it on a consistent basis so far.
“We’ve started to work on our mental game through concentration and visualization, and it’s a new aspect for them. But as far as I’m concerned, that’s where some of our biggest problems lie,” Roen admitted. “In a lot of the games this season, we’d take a big lead on a team, especially at the start of the year, [but] we would get to the game point and then just couldn’t finish it off, and the other team would come back and win.
“We’re working on some mental cues to get them focused on playing the game and not so much on what’s going on around them.”
Despite some problems with inconsistency, Roen said the squad has been really coachable and he’s been especially impressed with the spirit of togetherness they’ve shown so far.
“They are a really nice bunch of girls. There’s not a lot of issues between them, and they get along quite well,” he noted. “We have some fairly tall players, and they can hit the ball hard, so it’s just trying to get them to do it nine times out of 10 instead of six.”
After facing the Eagles today, the Muskies head to Kenora for a match with the Broncos tomorrow and then are off to a tournament n Thunder Bay hosted by Lakehead University on Friday and Saturday (Feb. 6-7).
Juniors succeeding
The Muskie juniors, meanwhile, have fared better against the Eagles so far, splitting their season series at one win apiece while currently sitting tied atop the NorWOSSA standings at 3-1 with Dryden.
After splitting the first four sets in their last match with the Eagles back on Jan. 8 (by scores of 25-12, 22-25, 25-11, and 19-25), the Muskies won the fifth-and-deciding one by a narrow 18-16 margin.
“We’re going to have to shut down their middle hitters,” noted coach Jason Cain. “That’s probably our best defence against them, and we’ve been working on that.
“You have to get that first hit [on defence] to the setter or you can’t really run any plays, especially against Dryden,” he stressed. “They serve so hard that we’ve been trying to work on ways to get that ball up in the air so we can actually play it and counter-attack.”
Cain said he expects some rust after such a prolonged break, but hopes some momentum will carry over from the team’s strong play heading into it.
“That’s one thing that’s going to worry me after a long break since our last game, so it’ll take a little bit to get it back, but we played two weekends in a row of tournaments [in early January] and they played really good volleyball there, so we’ll see,” he remarked.
“We have been running optional practices through exams, but school comes first at this point.”
If the Muskies hope to upend Dryden again today, they are going to have to do it without Sara Roach at full strength.
“She’s one of our power hitters and has a sore shoulder, so she can’t really be one of our hitters until the NorWOSSA finals,” Cain noted. “She’s still a smart player who puts the ball where it needs to be, but she can’t wind up and hit it right now.”
Cain is in his first year at the helm of the junior squad, but admitted he’s pleasantly surprised with the effort the team has shown to date.
“I really have nothing to compare it to, but I think they’re coming along quite well and other people have said the same thing, so that’s good to know,” he lauded.
“We’ve been doing some mental training to eliminate as many of the variables as we can so they just focus on the game,” Cain added. “They play better when they’re having fun, so if we can keep that the focus, then they’ll do a lot better.”
