A two-game winning streak at Friday’s NorWOSSA playoffs in Kenora will provide a much-welcomed bout of amnesia for three of the four Muskie court teams.
The regular season has been a relentless series of pitfalls for both the junior and senior boys’ volleyballs squads, as well as the junior girls’ basketball team, with only a combined two wins between the three.
But that all will be forgotten if the trio can survive their respective semi-final matches and then rise to the occasion in the finals later Friday.
The senior boys (0-7) are the most desperate of the group as they have yet to find a flow to their game—despite possessing an accomplished group of veterans and some high-calibre rookies.
Their struggles continued at home last Thursday with a 3-0 loss to the first-place Dryden Eagles in their best-of-five match. Game scores were 25-23, 25-13, and 25-13.
The third-place Muskies will face the Kenora Broncos in Friday’s semi-final at noon, with the winner advancing to the NorWOSSA final at 6 p.m. against the Eagles.
The junior boys’ crew (1-6) has showed signs of breaking out of their slump, but they also have been the victims of their own mistakes at costly junctures of matches all season.
That theme played itself out here last Thursday in a 3-1 loss to the first-place Eagles.
The third-place Muskies shot themselves in the foot repeatedly to drop the first two sets by scores of 25-19 and 25-23, then rebounded to win the third one 25-21.
But the Eagles held on for a 25-20 win in the fourth set to take the best-of-five match.
As such, the Muskies and Broncos will meet at 10 a.m. on Friday in a mirror image of the senior boys’ semi-final, with the winner facing Dryden in the final at 2:30 p.m.
< *c>Hoop dreams
It’s all about momentum for the Muskie junior girls’ hoopsters (1-6), who notched their first win of the season with a 24-23 cliffhanger over the Eagles here last Thursday.
Katie McTavish, sporting a pair of nasty facial scars dealt to her by a Dryden opponent earlier in the game, hit the winning shot on a jumper from the foul line with 58.4 seconds left to clinch the victory.
Janelle Williamson led the Muskies with nine points while Jen Harrison paced the visiting Eagles with 10.
It will be a re-match this Friday as the third-place Muskies meet the second-place Eagles in the semi-final match-up at 10 a.m., with first-place Kenora awaiting the winner in the 2 p.m. final.
Only the Muskie senior girls (6-1) are in the driver’s seat as their first-place finish assures them a berth in the NorWOSSA final Friday at 4 p.m. against the winner of the semi-final match between second-place Dryden and third-place Kenora.
It’s the same scenario as last year for the black-and-gold, who had to wait until late in the day to play their lone playoff contest—which they won to capture the NorWOSSA crown.
The seniors earned their sixth win of the season by beating Dryden 35-27 here last Thursday. Melanie Hyatt led the way with nine points while Carley McCormick added seven.
Brianne Bartlett had seven points for the Eagles while their scoring leader, Brittany Kamm, was held to just six.
The Muskies also played an exhibition game here this past week, soundly beating the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) 47-30.
McCormick and Stephanie “Mouse” Mattson each had seven points for Fort High while Jess Trent replied with 10 for the Saints.
The highlight of that game was Muskie coach Mike Busch’s goodwill gesture in the second half by putting Australian exchange student and team manager Sarah Dhillon into her first competitive high school game ever.
Dhillon responded by collecting a total of three rebounds in her three shifts, cheered on by her Muskie teammates.
“I was really nervous . . . they pretty well made me go in,” a delighted Dhillon said afterwards. “I didn’t know any of the plays. The girls were really helpful and supportive, though.
“I’m glad they made me do it.”
In related news, the four Muskie court teams were supposed to meet Kenora here yesterday in their respective regular-season finales but the Broncos’ team bus broke down on the trip, forcing them to return home.
It was not known by press time whether the games would be made up or just cancelled—a more likely scenario given the playoffs are just two days away and the outcomes wouldn’t affect the standings anyway.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
