Staff
The Muskie court teams lost three of their four matches with the Dryden Eagles yesterday.
The junior boys’ volleyball squad got things off on the right foot with a five-set win over the host Eagles by scores of 17-25, 25-20, 22-25, 25-23, and 15-9, improving to 3-0 near the midway point of the NorWOSSA season.
“They had us in the big gym with the big crowd, so it was pretty intimidating for the kids,” junior coach Duane Roen said. “We came out flat with soft, conservative play, and that carried through the first set.
“We started hitting better in the second, but Dryden played well and kept at us,” Roen added.
“We took a convincing lead, but then there were some calls that I considered very poor that allowed them to catch back up with us, but we finished it off.
“The boys really started hitting in the fifth set, took control early, and Dryden didn’t have an answer,” he noted.
Despite the perfect start to the season, Roen said his squad needs to believe in themselves even when they face adversity on the court.
“The boys came off that season last year with not a lot of success, and sometimes they lose a set and figure they are going to lose them all,” he remarked.
“They have to get out of that mindset and I think it’s coming slowly.”
The Muskie senior boys, meanwhile, fell to 0-3 on the season with a straight-sets loss to the Eagles by scores of 25-14, 25-8, and 25-23.
On the basketball court, the junior girls dropped their first game of the NorWOSSA campaign in losing 31-25 to the Eagles yesterday.
Chantal Jodoin led all Muskie shooters with 15 points.
“Dryden outplayed us and we beat ourselves by not being patient when we had possession,” junior coach Dan Bird said.
“We did not execute what we practised.
“Someone has to take a leadership role on the court and settle the team down when needed,” Bird stressed.
The senior squad also fell to 2-1 with a 26-19 loss.
“We were a little sluggish against their man-to-man pressure in the first quarter,” senior co-coach Ian Simpson said of the first quarter that saw the Muskies fall behind 8-0 early.
“We settled down and played better for the last three quarters,” he added.
Kayla Windigo led the Muskies with six points while Chelsea Hill added five.
The Muskies resume NorWOSSA action tomorrow when the Kenora Broncos visit the “Fish Tank.”
