Whitefish Bay stages upset of Muskie spikers

It was akin to watching the Kentucky Derby favourite lead the entire race, only to trip over its own hooves down the home stretch.
The Muskie senior girls’ volleyball team was the thoroughbred of the field during the round-robin portion of the Santa Claus Classic in Dryden last weekend, going 10- 2 to take first place in the ‘Gold’ division of the nine-team tournament.
But rather than push to the championship, the Muskies were unceremoniously booted from further contention with a 2-1 quarterfinal loss to Baibombeh (Whitefish Bay)—the fourth-place team in the ‘Blue’ division that had won only three games during the roundrobin.
Game scores were 25-21, 15-25, and 15-12.
“Whitefish Bay didn’t beat us, we beat ourselves,” declared Muskie coach Char Bliss, pointing to five blown serves and some poor passing in the third game as the decisive factors.
“Our serving in the round-robin was strong, but in those 15-pointers, you can’t make mistakes,” she stressed.
Bliss admitted her squad may have taken the lightly-regarded Whitefish Bay crew a little too lightly.
“We certainly could have been looking past them,” she remarked.
“Sometimes, you get into a mentality where you just expect you’re going to win.
“It’s tough to keep that level of play up where you need it.”^The Muskies showed how dangerous they can be in the roundrobin as they rolled through the opposition practically unscathed.
Fort High swept Dennis Franklin Cromartie School (Thunder Bay) by scores of 25-9, 25-16, and 15- 10. They also took three-straight from the Pelican Falls TimberWolves (25-11, 25-13, and 15-9).
Their only stumbles came against the Hammarskjold Vikings (Thunder Bay) in a 2-1 victory (by scores of 25-16, 25-13 and 10-15) and against the St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (Kenora), also a 2-1 Muskie win.
Game scores in that latter match were 25-21, 22-25, and 15-13.
On the injury front, first-year player Rachel Kabatay hurt her back in the Muskies’ second match of the tournament and was unable to play the final three contests.
She will be out of the line-up indefinitely.
Despite the setback against Whitefish Bay, Bliss didn’t think the ill effects from the loss would creep into the Muskies’ play as they take to the court this afternoon in Kenora for their Nor- WOSSA regular-season opener against the Broncos.
“It was the first tournament of the season, and there’s things to learn from it,” Bliss reasoned.
The junior girls’ volleyball team also heads to Kenora today to open its regular season before trekking to Dryden for a tournament.