Staff
Winless seniors
now hoping for
playoff success
The thought of an unbeaten season for the Muskie junior boys’ volleyball team went from a dream to an inevitability as the eight-game campaign progressed.
The black-and-gold put the finishing touches on an amazing 8-0 regular-season with a pair of straight-set victories at home against the Dryden Eagles last Tuesday and then in Kenora on Thursday.
Not bad considering the team went winless just a year ago.
Junior coach Duane Roen said clinching first place—and earning the bye to the league final next Thursday (Nov. 12) in Kenora—is huge for his team.
“You don’t want to worry about getting your kids injured having to play that extra match,” noted Roen, who will watch the Broncos and Eagles battle it out in the semi-final earlier in the day to decide who will take on the Muskies in the gold-medal match.
“We’ve had a very successful season, with the unbeaten record and a couple of golds and a silver in tournaments we’ve been in,” he added.
“We just lost the consolation final this past weekend at a tournament in Winnipeg, and we’ve got a couple of guys roughed up who will have time now to recuperate.”
The key ingredient to the Muskies’ amazing run has been—no surprise—unity.
“This really is a team,” Roen stressed. “Everyone plays well.
“The starting six each have their role to make the team good,” he noted.
Fort High took advantage of a short-handed Dryden team decimated by illness and an over-matched Kenora team which has gone winless this season but has been competitive in all their matches.
“You never know what to expect on NorWOSSA finals day,” said Roen.
“Weird things can happen,” he warned. “It all comes down to whoever brings it that day can win it.
“It would be nice to win it all, but I’m not going to count that chicken until that trophy is in my hands,” he vowed.
Seniors struggle
The story has been the exact opposite for the Muskie seniors spikers, who ended their regular season winless in eight tries after a four-set loss against Dryden here last Tuesday and then a straight-set defeat in Kenora on Thursday.
The match against Dryden saw the black-and-gold take the first set before dropping the next three.
“The third set, we were up but they came back on us,” said coach John Gibson.
“In the fourth, we had a slump early and tried to come back, but couldn’t.”
The task wasn’t made any easier in Kenora when the Muskies’ starting setter and top power hitter were forced to the sidelines due to the ’flu.
Gibson, who was unable to attend the match against the Broncos due to work commitments, said his team shouldn’t be counted out come playoff time.
“We may be 0-8, but we’ve taken sets from both those teams this year,” he stressed.
“Our strongest point is our players know how to play great ball,” Gibson added. “This is the deepest team I’ve ever worked with.
“Our biggest focus going into NorWOSSA has to be working on the fundamentals.
“You can’t have things like missed serves playing against teams that are so competitive like Kenora and Dryden, who have both gone deep into the OFSAA playoffs in recent years,” he reasoned.
The seniors were awaiting the outcome of this week’s regular-season finale between the Broncos and Eagles to determine who they’ll face in the semi-final next Thursday in Kenora.
