Mitch Calvert
The junior Muskie boys’ volleyball team continues their early-season dominance while the seniors are off to a slow start.
The juniors improved to 2-0 in NorWOSSA play with a four-set victory over the Kenora Broncos on Monday at the “Fish Tank.”
They split the first two sets by scores of 25-14 and 16-25, then cruised in the next two by scores of 25-14 and 25-12 to ice the victory.
After winning the Kenora Invitational tournament to begin the season, the juniors have picked up regular-season wins over the vaunted Dryden Eagles and now the Broncos.
“So far, so good, but we’ll see by the end of the season,” said junior coach Duane Roen. “We’ve had those kids who put that extra time in [during the summer] and they’re continuing to meld as a team.
“Although, there’s still lots of room for improvement,” he stressed.
“It’s a long year and teams get better, and we just don’t want them to get complacent.”
The juniors are led by a group of veterans who suffered through a winless season a year ago—and appear better off for it.
“We worked a long time last year on passing and we’ve improved there,” Roen said. “Our Grade 10 setter [Brandon Sinclair] is very capable; he listens and makes good decisions, moves the ball around well.
“I’m really happy with that.”
Roen also said the service game has been a particular highlight.
“Our serving has been good,” he lauded. “We’re hitting 80-85 percent every match, which I’m happy with, but we always want to push to get better and better.
“My hitters are starting to get their hands on the ball with a little bit of force, as well,” he added.
“Wasn’t so much [Monday], but the jitters playing at home in front of their parents and friends may have got to them a bit.”
Roen substituted a rookie lineup in for the second set against Kenora and although they lost, there were plenty of positives to take from it.
“They are going to be the team next year and have to learn how to work together,” he stressed. “We have a little different philosophy there.
“I don’t split them evenly between Grade 9s and 10s on the court, but there’s some tall players in our Grade 9 crew and some with some good arm swing already.
“Time on the court together will help them in the long run,” Roen added.
Roen said one area of concern is on-court communication and defending against big hitting teams.
“When they’re swinging hard and get through our blocks, we’ve got to be ready to dig that ball up so we can make a play out of it, and that’s what we need to work on.”
Meanwhile, the Muskie seniors fell to 0-2 on the season after dropping a straight-set decision to the Broncos on Monday by scores of 20-25, 24-26, and 20-25.
The seniors took a set from the Dryden Eagles in their season-opener last week, and hope to improve on their winless NorWOSSA campaign from a year ago.
The black-and-gold finished with a 1-2-1 record at the Kenora Invitational to open the year two weeks ago, losing to those same Broncos in the playoffs.
The Muskies are off until next Tuesday (Oct. 6) when they travel to Dryden to take on the Eagles.
