Senior spikers earn silver

The Muskie senior girls’ basketball team got their season off to a strong start by winning the silver medal at a tournament at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay over the weekend.
The black-and-gold went undefeated in round-robin play, beating Marathon, Churchill, St. Patrick’s, and Hillcrest to earn a bye to the semi-finals against the Westgate Tigers.
After dropping the opening set of their semi-final match-up, the Muskies battled back to win the second and third sets—the latter by a thrilling 16-14 score—to advance to the final.
But Fort High struggled in the final against the Dryden Eagles, dropping both sets en route to the silver medal.
Muskies Michelle Cournoyer and Brittany McCoy were named to the tournament all-star team.
Meanwhile, the Muskie junior girls’ volleyball team kicked off their season with a pair of strong showings at the Fort Frances High School McDonald’s Invitational tournament over the weekend.
In an effort to get all his players as much playing time as possible, Muskie coach Jeff Rajala split the team into two squads—FFHS Black and FFHS Gold.
FFHS Black ended up finishing third behind only the two Dryden Eagle teams while FFHS Gold finished in fifth place to be crowned the consolation-round champs.
Rajala was encouraged by the performance of both squads during the two-day showdown.
“We went into this tournament as a practice, to get to know the system, and to see where we need to make improvements,” he said.
“I believe we accomplished those goals. We played well against our league opponents, and the prospects for our season are looking very good,” Rajala added.
Both teams open their NorWOSSA seasons here tomorrow against the Kenora Broncos. The seniors take the court at 3:30 p.m., followed by the juniors at 5 p.m.