Senior spikers finish in dramatic fashion

The Muskie court teams finished the NorWOSSA regular season on a high note here yesterday, claiming three out of four win against the Kenora Broncos.
The highlight was the senior boys’ volleyball match. After losing the first two sets 25-19 and 27-25, the Muskies faced match point in the third set—24-23—but rallied to win 27-25.
After an easy 25-13 win in the fourth set, the black-and-gold reached match point at 14-10 in the fifth-and-deciding one but allowed the Broncos to score five-straight points to turn the tables.
But after several close plays at the net, Muskie Justin Addison found his rhythm and spiked two shots into the Kenora zone to nail down the 21-19 win and the match.
“The team stepped up when they had to,” said head coach Adrian Chapman, whose team finished the regular season with a 3-5 mark.
During that fifth set, the crowd was at its loudest—for the Broncos. Most of the students watching were other Kenora athletes who made the trip that morning.
Yet their constant chants of “B-R-O-N-C-O-S!” were not enough to bring the Muskies down.
“Everybody, from our players on the court and those on the bench, were cheering hard for each other. It was one of the first times I’ve seen that this season,” remarked Chapman.
He added he was pleased how the McGinnis brothers, Emery and Colin, showed composure on defence. “They were absolute defensive monsters in that last set. They kept our team in it,” Chapman enthused.
Meanwhile, the Muskie junior boys’ volleyball team came close to pulling off a comeback of their own but ultimately came out on the short end of a 15-25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-20, and 8-15 score.
They ended the regular season with a 2-6 mark.
Head coach Greg Ste. Croix said his team’s inability to put the third set to bed—and give them a 2-1 lead—was costly.
The team had rallied in the fifth-and-deciding set to cut the gap to 9-8 but then the Broncos reeled off six quick points to secure the win. “You can’t start slow in a fifth set. It’s just very difficult to come out of it,” said Ste. Croix.
In girls’ basketball action here yesterday, a depleted Kenora senior squad dressed only seven players and scored only two points in the first half as the Muskies (5-3) romped 43-18.
Jamie Whitecrow led the way with 10 points while Jessica Wilson scored six.
“Because it was so lopsided, the girls started doing things they shouldn’t be doing,” said Muskie head coach Darren Johnson.
And the junior girls put the finishing touches on a NorWOSSA-leading 6-2 record by edging the Broncos 38-32. Rebecca Cornell tallied a game-high 12 points to pace the team.
Carley McCormick and Jody Caul added seven and six points, respectively.
The junior hoopsters were the only Muskie team to earn a bye to their respective final in the NorWOSSA playoffs here Friday.
The senior girls will have to face Kenora in the semi-finals, with the winner facing Dryden for the league crown and a berth in the NWOSSAA finals.
In volleyball action, the senior boys face Dryden in the semi-finals while the juniors will square off against Kenora.
Semi-final action begins at 10:30 a.m., with the four finals slated to begin at 1:30 p.m.