Jamie Mountain
The Rainy River Owls’ junior girls’ volleyball team has gotten off to a great start to the season.
Rainy River compiled a 5-0-1 record in pool play before winning all three of its playoff games to snag the title at the Dryden Eagles’ annual home tournament held Friday and Saturday.
The Owls then followed that up with a 3-0 sweep over the Atikokan Voyageurs yesterday at RRHS to see their record improve to 2-0 in NorWOSSA ‘A’ league play.
“I think winning a ‘AA’ tournament really gave the girls a lot of confidence in their skills, which led to a win today,” lauded Owls’ coach Hayley Arpin.
After claiming the first set by a 25-14 count yesterday against the Voyageurs, the Owls pulled out a 25-18 win in a back and forth second set.
Rainy River then went into cruise control and finished the sweep off in the third-and-final set with a convincing 25-13 victory.
“Their passing and serving,” is what Arpin cited as what she thought was most impressive about the Owls’ win yesterday.
“Their serving was very impressive. We have a lot of strong servers and the competition wasn’t able to return our serves, it was really good to see.
“And they did a very good job of passing and getting it to our target every single time,” she lauded.
Comprising the Owls’ roster this year are Madison Kreger, Tala Quran, Carenna Haw, Kennah Lablanc, Emma Low, Kaylee Hasiuk, Emma Olson, Jolene Spoon, Amy Dobransky, and Tailir Mosioner.
As mentioned, Rainy River had gone into yesterday’s home match fresh off a dominating performance at the Dryden tournament.
The Owls dispatched each of the Fort Frances Black (25-17/25-12), Fort Frances White (25-7/25-17), St. Ignatius Falcons (25-9/25-23), Kenora Broncos White (25-9/25-10), and St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (25-21/25-6).
They also split with the host Eagles with set score of 25-7 and 14-25 to finish atop the Gold Division.
After sweeping the Broncos Purple squad 25-18 and 25-23 in the quarterfinals, the Owls dumped the St. Patrick Saints (Thunder Bay) in the semis to advance to the championship match.
The Owls took on the host Eagles for gold, where they again prevailed by scores of 20-25, 25-19, and 15-7.
“Playing against good competitors and good teams helps them in their skills a lot to see good plays and to learn from other players,” said Arpin.
The Owls won’t resume NorWOSSA action again until Jan. 14 when they hit the road to take on the Voyageurs once again.
Arpin is hopeful her players will be able to build off their great start to the season in the second half.
“I’m hoping to get right back on track after the holidays, put in the time and the work to continue to improve on our skills and game play,” she remarked.
“Working on more specific plays, instead of the more basic things, is a goal for me. But these girls always sees to amaze me and make me proud, so I’m excited to see what the new year brings for these young ladies.”
