Lucas Punkari
Judging by the reactions on the court and on the bench by members of the Muskie senior girls’ volleyball squad here last Thursday afternoon, you might have thought the team had just captured OFSAA gold.
Although the black-and-gold only had beaten the Kenora Broncos, the fact it was their first NorWOSSA win of the season was enough to have them jumping for joy.
“We like to keep the momentum up after we win by celebrating as it makes the game fun and it also makes us a stronger unit,” explained Adriane Gurski.
Entering the match with an 0-3 league record, the senior girls turned in a strong performance to upend the visitors in four sets (25-21, 19-25, 25-20, and 25-20).
“Today we performed that way that I wanted us to do,” said head coach Duane Roen.
“Our passing has improved, which means that we can attack the ball more often, which is something that we haven’t been able to do in our first couple of games,” he noted.
“We were down in the first set and we ended up coming back from a big margin to win that one,” Roen added.
“And when we are playing well, it’s a very fun team to watch play.”
The improved play on the court of late also has been noticed by the players themselves.
“Our serves lately have been up around 90 percent and that has really helped out as we are not giving away points,” Gurski stressed.
“Our passing has improved drastically also since the start of the year, and our stats have gone up right through the roof as a result,” echoed Chantal Jodoin.
“In every game we have been improving a lot and if we continue to work hard, we will be ready for our next league games,” she added.
The win came two days after the senior squad had dropped a four-set match to the host Dryden Eagles (15-25, 21-25, 25-12, 10-25).
“In our first set against Dryden, our passing wasn’t there and our serving was off,” Roen recalled. “But in the second set, we improved by having a much better attack.
“In the third set, everything was clicking out there and we just hammered then.
“But in the next set, Dryden jumped out in front 9-0,” he continued. “And even though we tried to sub out and use time-outs, they just kept on rolling.”
Despite falling to the Eagles, the Muskies gained some confidence from their play, which carried over into their win over the Broncos on Thursday.
“We were pumped up on Tuesday,” Jodoin noted. “We beat Dryden in a set, which was a big thing for us as we hadn’t beat them in a long time, and that got us really excited.
“The momentum was still really high in practice on Wednesday, and we just carried that over into our game today [Thursday].”
The senior Muskies then continued their strong play at the Winter Blast Invitational tournament over the weekend in Kenora, where they captured the bronze medal after nipping the host Broncos in three sets (20-25, 27-25, and 15-11).
Juniors win
Meanwhile, the Muskie junior girls’ volleyball team had a very successful week in NorWOSSA action, beating both Dryden and Kenora to improve their league record to 3-1.
On Tuesday, Fort High downed the Eagles for the first time this season in a five-set thriller (25-21, 17-25, 25-18, 12-25, and 15-11).
“That was a big game for us,” enthused head coach Jason Cain.
“It was an exact mirror image of the first game that we played them back in December with very similar scores, but this time around we were lucky enough to come out on top,” he noted.
The juniors then continued their sharp play here Thursday afternoon, using a strong serving game to upend the Broncos in four sets (25-16, 22-25, 25-17, and 25-11).
“In the first set I decided to try something new,” Cain explained.
“For the first time this year, we put all of our Grade 10 players out on the court right off of the hop and let them play things out, and it ended up being a back-and-forth set until we pulled ahead.
“In the second set, we had strictly Grade 9s playing, and they held their own against a team that has a majority of Grade 10s out there until the very end.
“And then we put out our stronger players for the last two sets, which we won,” Cain added.
Like their senior counterparts, the juniors also travelled to Kenora for the Winter Blast Invitational, where the black-and-gold were split into two teams.
When the dust settled, Team Gold came away with the tourney title after edging Rainy River in three sets (14-25, 25-23, and 15-13).
Team Black, on the other hand, finished sixth after dropping the fifth-place match to Hammarskjold of Thunder Bay (13-25 and 21-25).
After taking some time off due to exams, both volleyball squads will return to NorWOSSA action on Tuesday, Jan. 31 in Kenora, followed by a home date with Dryden the next day (Feb. 1).
