Joey Payeur
There’s nothing like the first time—whether it’s falling in love or becoming a head coach.
Kirsten Talsma always will cherish her initial season in charge of the Muskie senior boys’ volleyball team, which made it all the way to the OFSAA ‘AA’ championships in Dryden last week before finishing with an 0-4 record.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better group of guys to start my coaching career with,” said Talsma, who moved to Fort Frances from Parry Sound shortly before the season began.
She then answered the desperate call from the Fort High athletic department for someone to fill the team’s coaching vacancy.
The result played out like a volleyball version of “Rocky,” featuring the ridiculed underdog Muskies emerging to stun the nay-sayers.
From last year’s rock-bottom 1-7 regular season and NorWOSSA semi-final loss, Talsma reversed the team’s record and fortunes as the black-and-gold went 7-1 to finish atop the standings.
A five-set loss to the powerhouse Dryden Eagles in the NorWOSSA final, with the Muskies fighting back from a two-set deficit, proved Fort High was no fluke.
With Dryden already holding an OFSAA berth due to being the host team, the Muskies’ silver-medal performance was enough to earn an NWOSSAA showdown with the St. Ignatius Falcons (Thunder Bay).
Having already beaten the Falcons at a tournament in Dryden earlier this season, the Muskies didn’t blink against their big-city opponents, downing St. Ignatius 2-1 in the best-of-three final to send Fort High to its first all-Ontario appearance since 1999—ending a 15-year drought.
Fort High was ranked 14th out of 16 teams at the provincials and got to test its mettle right off the hop—squaring off against the third-seeded Ecole secondaire catholique Franco-Cité Falcons (Ottawa) in its opening match in Pool ‘B’ last Thursday morning.
The Muskies were as close as 16-15 in the first set, but never could get the gain the lead in falling 2-0 (25-18/25-16) in the best-of-three match.
As it turned out, it was an even more impressive showing for the Fort as Franco-Cité went on to end the dynasty of the Eden High School Eagles (St. Catharines).
The Falcons beat the eight-time defending champs 3-1 (26-24, 20-25, 25-19, and 25-20) in the final.
“It feels pretty good knowing we competed well in the first set against the team that ended up winning the tournament,” said Talsma.
“I know that my boys could have given that team a better run for their money and I think they would agree with me, as well,” she added.
The Muskies then won their first set of the tourney after edging the eighth-seeded Dr. G.W. Williams Secondary School Wildcats (Aurora) 27-25 in their second match that afternoon.
But in what would be the start of a bad-news trend for the rest of their tournament, Fort High was unable to seal the deal—losing the next two sets 25-15 and 25-9 to drop the match.
With only the top two teams from each pool advancing to the quarter-finals, the loss assured the Muskies would end up on the consolation side of the playoffs.
In their final Pool ‘B’ match Friday morning, Fort High broke out on top of the ninth-ranked Cobourg Collegiate Institute Wolves (Cobourg) with a 26-24 win in the opening set.
But the Wildcats roared back to take the next two 25-16 and then 15-4 over what looked like an increasingly frustrated Muskie team.
“I am pleased that the boys did show their competitiveness in a few of the sets,” lauded Talsma.
“As a coach, it will always be hard to watch your team start so strong and quickly fall,” she added.
“I know how well the boys can play and it was upsetting that they didn’t play every game to their full abilities.”
Having finished fourth in their pool, the Muskies found themselves facing the sixth-seeded Lockerby Composite School Vikings (Sudbury) in the best-of-five consolation quarter-final match.
The Vikings, who had finished third in Pool ‘A’ with a 1-2 record, fell behind early and lost the opening set 25-20.
But for the third-straight match, the Muskies let their opponent off the hook and were swept the rest of the way (25-14, 25-18, and 25-17) to end their OFSAA stay.
“The biggest factor from preventing the boys from getting a match win would be the breakdown in communication, which would lead to our opponent going on long stretches, earning many points in a row,” Talsma noted.
“Once our communication breaks down for a few points, it is hard to get out of that rut and back on track,” she remarked.
“I would say that the boys did lose intensity throughout the tournament, especially in times when they needed the intensity to be brought up.”
With Thunder White, Aaron Kavanaugh, and Brandon Geyshick as the only non-seniors on the team, the Muskies will face long odds to repeat this year’s success—unless one or more decide to return for their “victory lap” year as was done by team captain and starting setter Derek Kaemingh.
“It will be very difficult to fill the shoes of the graduates for next year because they are all such great players and could all offer something to the team to benefit it,” said Talsma.
