Jamie Mountain
It was a dominant weekend for the Muskie junior girls’ volleyball team as they won the Kenora Invitational “Winter Blast” tournament without dropping a single set.
The squad went 10-0 in round-robin play, defeating the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora), Kenora Broncos, Westgate Tigers (Thunder Bay), St. Ignatius Falcons (Thunder Bay), and Dryden Eagles all twice.
It was a similar story in the playoffs as the Muskies swept Westgate in the quarter-finals (25-17/25-12) before ousting the Broncos (25-8/25-11) in the semi-finals.
The Muskies then squared off against the Eagles in the final and also won in straight sets (25-12/25-19).
Simone Payne (24 aces/10 kills) and Aurora Hutton (10 aces/10 kills) were standouts for the black-and-gold all weekend, providing really aggressive serving in the first rotation.
The Muskie senior girls also travelled to Kenora for the “Winter Blast” tournament.
In round-robin action, Fort High defeated the Broncos and Falcons but fell to the St. Patrick’s Saints (Thunder Bay) and Tigers, resulting in a third-place finish.
The black-and-gold opened the playoffs by beating Dryden in the quarter-finals before suffering a semi-final loss to the Tigers.
But the squad came away victorious against St. Ignatius to capture the bronze medal.
In boys’ hoops action, meanwhile, the juniors travelled to Thunder Bay for the annual Falcon Invitational tournament.
They opened play Friday with a 47-20 rout of the Superior High Spartans.
Michael Vanderaa led all scorers with 16 points while Sean Huziak added 10 and Caleb Allan contributed nine.
Fort High then fell 51-22 to the host Falcons later in the day but rebounded to down St. Patrick’s twice on Saturday.
Vanderaa scored a team-high 14 points in the first game while Wyatt Richards added 11, Allan had 10, and Huziak eight.
Then in the consolation game, the Muskies came away with a 52-34 triumph, with Vanderaa again leading the way with 18 points.
The senior Muskies also competed at the tournament but results weren’t available as of press time.
All four court sports teams were in NorWOSSA action today against the visiting Dryden Eagles.
