Senior spikers fourth at tourney

The Muskie senior girls’ volleyball team finished fourth at Westgate Collegiate’s “Spike Off 2” tournament in Thunder Bay over the weekend after losing to the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora) in the semi-finals.
The black-and-gold struggled to find consistency in their service game and dropped the first set 25-19 to the Saints.
Then, despite playing some solid volleyball, they lost the second set by a narrow 26-24 score.
Fort High faced the host Tigers in their opening round-robin game Friday morning.
The Muskies started strong in front of the hostile, sold-out crowd of 300 students and spectators. Despite the horns, screams, and “booing,” though, the black-and-gold won the first set 25-22.
However, the Tigers would have their revenge as the Muskies relaxed too much in the second set and lost 25-12.
Next up for the Muskies were the Hammarskjold Vikings (Thunder Bay), who the Muskies made short work of by scores of 25-17 and 25-11.
The black-and-gold later lost their third match in straight sets to the eventual tournament champion Dryden Eagles (25-14/25-20), but they rebounded in their final match of the day to sweep the St. Ignatius Falcons (25-23/25-19).
Then on Saturday morning, Fort High split their final round-robin match against the Churchill Trojans (Thunder Bay) by scores of 25-17 and 20-25.
The Muskies finished the round-robin tied for second place with Westgate but had to settle for third due to the point differential.
That meant the team took on the Tigers’ junior squad in the quarter-finals—a match the Muskies won in straight sets (25-18/25-13) to set up their semi-final battle with St. Thomas Aquinas.