Lucas Punkari
After struggling in their first two tournaments of the season, the Fort Frances Vipers girls’ volleyball team picked the perfect time to turn things around.
Competing in Portage La Prairie over the weekend, the squad picked up the Manitoba U16 Tier 2 provincial volleyball title.
“It was amazing volleyball to watch, and it’s not very often that you see a team put it all together so quickly,” said head coach Duane Roen.
“One of the things that we had been working on leading into this tournament was with the girls’ mental game,” he noted.
“Their technical ability was already good and solid, but the mental ability wasn’t there in our previous tournaments in Winnipeg.
“This weekend, though, the girls stayed in there mentally and we had a steady improvement in our games, and it was pretty amazing to see,” Roen added.
The Vipers finished round-robin play Saturday in second place with a 2-1 record—defeating the Joust Volleyball Club (Winnipeg) and the Morden Wolves before falling to the host Prairie Fire U16 squad.
“For this tournament, we were down to nine players from our usual 10 so we had to make a few adjustments there,” Roen noted.
“We decided to introduce the libero position into the lineup, which Claire Hyatt played for us, and that allowed us to have more room in the back court if we needed it,” he explained.
“We won our first match in three sets and then beat the team from Morden in two sets,” Roen recalled.
“And in the last game of the day against the Fire, we just ran out of steam in the last set.”
The Vipers then returned to the court Sunday morning and won their quarter-final match over the Synergy Volleyball Club (Glenalla and McCreary) in three sets (25-22, 20-25, and 15-9).
That earned them a semi-final date with the Prairie Fire U14 team.
“We beat them in two-straight sets [25-22/25-15] and the girls played amazing,” Roen enthused.
“Everything was clicking out there, and the girls were talking to each other, hustling all over the court, and making the best play that they could in order to get to the finals,” he said.
The championship match saw the Vipers battle it out in a three-set affair with the Grant Park Pirates (Winnipeg). But when the dust settled, they emerged with the title by scores of 25-17, 19-25, and 15-13.
“They [Grant Park] were a very strong defensive team that had a good middle hitter and power hitter,” Roen noted.
“In the game, there were a number of plays where the ball would travel over the net about eight or nine times before it hit the ground, so that made for an exciting game.
“It was point for point right until the very end, and when the girls won everyone was very excited,” he added.
Three members of the Vipers were rewarded for their performances once the tournament concluded.
Cheyenne Lyons and Sierra Cousineau both were named to the all-star team while Hannah McLeod took home tournament MVP honours.
“Cheyenne and Sierra were our two setters that ran the play for us all weekend, and they were communicating well out there and moving fast to the ball,” Roen noted.
“Hannah was outstanding for us all weekend, and as she is close to six feet tall,” he added.
“She dominated in front of the net, especially with our team blocking.
“It was great to see all three of them be rewarded by the fellow coaches and the referees, who voted on those awards at the end of the tournament,” Roen said.
