Lucas Punkari
As they took to the court in Dryden last Thursday, the Muskie senior and junior boys’ volleyball squads were hoping they would start their 2011 NorWOSSA campaigns on a winning note over the perennial league powers.
Instead, the black-and-gold were left licking their wounds as both teams fell in four sets to the host Eagles.
The seniors, who beat the Eagles for the first time in a number of years at a tournament in Kenora the previous weekend, lost the opening set 26-24 but stormed back to take the second one 25-23.
It was all Dryden after that, however, as the hosts sealed the deal with wins of 25-12 and 25-20 in the next two sets.
“That was not really what we were hoping for as we kind of had an off-day,” noted senior boys’ head coach Alison Hyatt.
“We didn’t really [play] our offence or play our defence as we would like it to,” she added.
“But hopefully when we get to face them next time, we will play a little bit better.”
Despite the loss, Hyatt was able to take a few positives from the match.
“We started to see some leadership come out in guys like Brandon Sinclair, Gavin Moorhouse, and Braedon Keast,” she said.
“The kids really fought through their frustrations when they were down, and they still kept being aggressive and didn’t fall into playing Dryden’s game.”
The junior boys, meanwhile, similarly split first the two sets—losing 25-21 before winning 25-22. Then the Eagles took over, winning 27-25 and 25-11, to earn the victory.
“Overall, I thought the [match] was very close and competitive, with a couple of sets that could have gone either way,” noted junior bench boss John Gibson.
“Having come off a week of practices where we worked on our basic skills and our rotation things, along with helping those Grade 9 players get up to speed, I was very pleased with how we did,” he enthused.
“Everyone was able to play during the games, which was good to help them develop their chemistry and to also get them to get those nerves out afterwards.
“And I think that really paid off for them in the tournament right after,” Gibson added.
During that weekend tournament in Kenora, the junior boys were split into two squads and performed very well—finishing up with second- and fourth-place finishes.
“I have to say that I was most pleased with the leadership roles that we saw from the returning players, and their work in helping those players that are new to the program this year,” Gibson remarked.
“Whether it was helping each other around the court, reminding players of their positioning and teaching them fundamental things they learned last year, to see them do that was really impressive.
“Junior volleyball can get really streaky at times, and we saw that, too, during the weekend,” Gibson noted.
“But to see them bounce back, and to see both teams come back and play some really clean volleyball the next time out, was very good to see,” he added.
After welcoming the Kenora Broncos to Fort High yesterday afternoon, both the senior and junior spikers will enjoy a bit of a breather before two matches next week—in Dryden on Tuesday and again hosting Kenora on Thursday (Oct. 6).
“Those two games for us against Kenora will be our first real glimpse at them as we didn’t face them in our pre-season tournament there,” Hyatt noted.
“Our focus will again be with our defence and our passing, as you are unable to do anything if you can’t pass the ball,” she stressed.
“By putting our focus on that, we should be able to run our offence, which is already proving to be a strong point for us.”
As for the junior spikers, Gibson will be using the next few practices to help prepare his team for what they’ll be going up against as the season wears on.
“Now we are at the point where we are starting to build our structure and knowing what players we would like to have out on the floor once the game gets underway,” he explained.
“With that said, it will also be good to give everyone some court time, and to also feel and have that excitement of playing in front of a home crowd,” he added.
