Eagles soar over Muskies

The Muskie senior court teams are reeling following a pair of convincing losses to the visiting Dryden Eagles yesterday.
The senior boys’ volleyball team was swept for the third time in three tries this season, falling 25-13, 25-14, and 25-20.
“Technically, we’ve got some things to work on,” Muskie head coach Brian Love admitted. “Our defence was good. Our offence needs some work.”
The Muskies were outclassed, but managed to fight hard in the final set, leading early on and battling the Eagles in some long rallies.
“We need to work on making our serves more aggressive, as well as our play on the net. But that’s not taking anything away from Dryden,” Love said.
It was much the same story for the senior girls’ basketball team. The black-and-gold fell behind early and decisively—coming out on the short end of a 38-17 score.
“It’s full marks to Dryden,” Muskie head coach Ian Simpson said afterwards. “They’re very quick, they work very hard, and they play very hard.”
He chalked up the loss to the Eagles’ team being a very good one and his team not being “prepared” for the task at hand.
“We just keep working and hopefully we’ll pull out a win against them,” he offered. “Our shots still aren’t going down for us, and for a large extent, that’s a credit to the defence that Dryden has put down on us.
“I do think that we’ll get better and we’ll have a better game against Dryden next time,” he vowed.
Love didn’t have any such predictions in mind, with his team yet to win a set, let alone a match, nearing the mid-point of the season.
“It’s gonna be an uphill fight. This is a very tough league,” he conceded.
But he does see good in the team. “We’ve certainly got the right attitude and work ethic. The boys continue to improve every match,” Love said.
Both teams had opened their NorWOSSA seasons back on Sept. 27 in Dryden, with the boys’ losing 26-24, 25-17, and 25-19 and the girls falling 36-27.
The results from yesterday’s junior action against Dryden were unavailable prior to press time last night.
Both senior teams—as well as their junior counterparts—will be back in action tomorrow against the host Kenora Broncos.
The senior boys’ volleyball team then will head to the Spikes tournament in Winnipeg this weekend while the junior girls’ basketball team will host their own tournament on Friday and Saturday at Fort High.