Staff
It was a mixed bag of results for the four Muskie court teams yesterday at the “Fish Tank.”
The junior boys’ volleyball team ran their NorWOSSA record to a perfect 5-0 with a four-set win over the Dryden Eagles by scores of 25-17, 25-23, 9-25, and 26-24.
The black-and-gold led by 23-10 in the fourth set before a late push by the visitors nearly sent it to a fifth-and-deciding one.
“It got a little dicey at the end there, but we pulled through,” junior coach Duane Roen said.
“The kids were trying some new things and started missing, and that made them play too tight,” he noted.
The juniors will split into two squads for a tournament in Dryden this weekend.
The senior boys, meanwhile, fell to 0-5 despite going toe-to-toe with the vaunted Eagles in a three-set loss by scores of 21-25, 24-26, and 22-25.
On the basketball court, the Muskie junior girls (4-1) moved into sole possession of first place after routing Dryden 34-8 here yesterday.
Fort High jumped out to an early 8-2 lead and never looked back. Second-year players Chantal Jodoin and Emily Drouin set the tone with a pair of long-range jump shots in the opening minutes.
A tenacious team defence led by Mary Strain kept the Eagles from mounting any sort of a comeback.
“Our guards, Emily Drouin, Adrian Gurski, Mary Strain, and Alyssa Caul, did a great job forcing Dryden to work their offence and cause turnovers,” co-coach Dan Bird said.
“They also did a great job in running the offence, pushing the fast-break and slowing the pace when needed.
“The whole team is buying in and executing what is practised,” Bird added.
“The team displayed disciplined ball and saw that good defence leads to good offence.”
Jodoin had eight points while Chelsea Audette, Erika Moffitt, and Kelsea Hunsperger also added key baskets.
But it was a different story for the Muskie senior girls (3-2), who couldn’t get a consistent attack going en route to a 21-12 loss to the visiting Eagles.
Dryden (4-1) took over first place with the win.
The visitors led 10-4 at half-time in the low-scoring affair before stretching their lead to 18-8 after three quarters.
They went into lockdown mode in the fourth to quash any hopes of a Muskie comeback.
“Offensively, we weren’t very sharp,” senior girls’ coach Ian Simpson admitted. “[Dryden] played good pressure defence on us and we didn’t handle it well.
“Their defence was their best offence.
“As a team, we’re going to have to figure out ways to get open and continue to work on the fundamentals,” Simpson stressed.
“We have to work on one-on-one play because we’re tentative when it comes to driving to the basket and getting into positions to score.
“We’re not trying to beat them or create anything,” he lamented.
Jolene Stahn and Kayla Windigo had four points each to lead the Muskie attack.
All four teams resume NorWOSSA action next Tuesday in Kenora.
