Joey Payeur
Living a double life suited the Muskie junior girls’ volleyball team well.
With 16 players on the roster, head coach Jason Cain decided his team would benefit the most by splitting into two groups for the Kenora Broncos’ annual home tournament over the weekend.
His plan bore fruit in terms of not only accelerated player development, but also success.
Cain led the more experienced of the two squads to a third-place showing at the 14-team event while assistant coach Jamie Beadow shepherded the younger collection of players to fifth place overall.
As it turned out, the Muskie teams got to test each other as they met in the first match of Day 2 after teams were re-assigned to one of three new pools based on their Day 1 performances.
What Cain saw, he liked very much.
“The younger group really tested the older ones,” Cain said about the two-set match, which saw the more-veteran crew win the first set 25-20 before the up-and-comers fought back to take the second one 25-22.
“I was really impressed,” he added.
“It’s an easier game to play when you know each other’s strengths and weaknesses so well,” he reasoned.
The older Muskie unit opened the preliminary round by tying the stronger of two St. Thomas Aquinas Saints’ split squads from Kenora (26-24/21-25) and the St. Ignatius Falcons from Thunder Bay (25-19/20-25).
“St. Ignatius had a lot of good play at the net in terms of tipping the ball where you’re not,” remarked Cain.
“That’s something we’re definitely going to work on defending in practice this week.”
Next up were the overmatched Red Lake Rams, who fell 2-0 (25-12/25-11) to Fort High.
“Being they were a weaker team, we got a chance to run a lot of the offences that we work on in practice,” Cain noted.
The Muskies closed out Day 1 with a 2-0 sweep (25-15/25-17) of the Superior Collegiate and Vocational Institute (SCVI) Gryphons to end up with a 6-2 record.
After the match against the younger Muskies and a 2-0 win over the weaker Dryden split squad (25-16/25-18), Cain’s contingent found itself in the ‘A’-side semi-finals against the more skilled Eagles’ entry in the tourney.
The Eagles avenged their schoolmates by knocking the black-and-gold out of further contention with a 2-0 win (25-17/25-18).
“We missed a lot of key serves,” admitted Cain. “We buckled under the pressure a little bit and there was a lack of communication out there.
“But still, I’m quite impressed with third overall.”
Beadow’s bunch, meanwhile, were stung in their opener 2-0 (25-8/25-15) by the better of the two Dryden teams, but steadied themselves with a 2-0 sweep (25-13/25-10) over the less talented of the two St. Thomas Aquinas’ squads.
A very strong Rainy River Owls’ squad, which squared off with the tougher Dryden team in the ‘A’ final, swept the younger Muskies 2-0 (25-14/25-15) before Fort High earned a split against the host Broncos (21-25/25-15) to complete the preliminary round at 3-5.
After splitting with their Muskie counterparts and then a 2-0 sweep of the weaker Dryden team (26-24/25-17) on Day 2, Fort High found itself with a bye to the ‘B’-side final.
There they found a hungry St. Ignatius team waiting, with the Falcons coming out on top 2-0 (25-21/25-20).
“They played really well in that one, with our players diving all over the court,” lauded Cain.
“They’re really picking stuff up as we go along.”
The Muskies’ tournament effort came on the heels of a signature 3-2 victory (25-15, 25-19, 16-25, 19-25, and 15-12) in NorWOSSA action last Thursday in Dryden against the Eagles.
“We’ve never won two-straight sets against Dryden,” marvelled Cain.
“We were right on our ‘A’-game and serving extremely well.
The Eagles rallied in front of their home crowd to take the next two sets, using a rotation which saw their best servers repeatedly substituted in and out to give themselves the best chance behind the line.
Then in the fifth and deciding set, the Muskies fell behind 7-4 but ripped off eight-straight points to put themselves in control for good.
“The Fort Frances Vipers club team, which started last year, you can see the impact that team is having on us already,” enthused Cain, referring to how much further along the junior Muskies are compared to previous seasons.
The Muskies resumed NorWOSSA action here yesterday against Kenora in a battle for first place (the outcome was unknown as of press time).
The juniors, along with the Vipers, then will head to Dryden this weekend for the Eagles’ annual home tournament.
