Lucas Punkari
When the NorWOSSA boys’ volleyball season gets underway each fall, the team that’s always the one everyone is gunning to beat is the Dryden Eagles, who have dominated the three-team loop on multiple occasions.
Last Thursday afternoon at the Fort High gym, both Muskie squads pushed the perennial league frontrunners through all five sets of their league matches—and both came away with impressive showings despite not being able to earn the win.
Having already beaten the Eagles in their season-opener back in September, the senior boys came close to their second win of the season over their league rivals at home but ended up dropping a five-set decision (24-26, 25-15, 14-25, 25-23, and 18-16) to fall to 2-3 on the season.
“Overall, I’m mostly happy with how the [match] went,” head coach Allison Hyatt said afterwards.
“I wasn’t happy with the third set, and in the first set we started a little slow, but we were really good in the second and fourth sets that we won,” she noted.
“And the fifth set was just a battle to the end with both teams matching each other point for point.”
In that final set, both teams went back-and-forth to try and win the match, with a number of lengthy rallies taking place that brought those in the gym to their feet several times.
“That was really intense,” said Grade 11 student Derek Kaemingh.
“We played well throughout the game and we went point for point with Dryden, and we were also stay in the game mentally, which is something that we haven’t done all season,” he added.
After going on the road to Kenora yesterday, the senior spikers will head to Winnipeg for a tournament this weekend before taking on the Eagles in Dryden next Tuesday afternoon in what will be their final road game of the regular season.
“I like the competitiveness and the aggressiveness that we have,” Kaemingh said.
“And I think that if we keep up that positive mental attitude, we should do well at the NorWOSSA finals.
“Our serving has been good, but we are still giving up three or four points a game, which is crucial for us as the majority of the games are won by that much,” he stressed.
The junior boys, meanwhile, suffered their second-straight five-set loss to the Eagles here last Thursday (20-25, 25-17, 25-17, 9-25, and 12-15), in a contest which was nearly identical to their previous meeting Oct. 1.
“If you look at the set scores for both of those games, they are almost identical, with one team being streaky for a set and then the opposite happening in the very next set,” noted head coach John Gibson.
“It’s fun to watch, though, and it shows that the league is very balanced right now,” he enthused.
Following a league match in Kenora yesterday, the Muskies (2-3) will travel to Dryden this weekend for a tournament before taking on the Eagles again next there Tuesday afternoon in what will be their final meeting before the playoffs.
“We’ve been getting way better at our hitting, and we are doing way better than before in giving up free balls,” Grade 10 player Jacob Bolzan said of the team’s progress to date.
“There are still some things that we obviously need to work on, like our positioning, but it was a lot of fun to be involved in a game like this,” he added.
“And I think that we will get them [Dryden] next time.”
