SCHOOL SPORT CANADA• SPORT SCOLAIRE CANADA

YSAA Super Volleyball Action

November 1, 2017 by  
Filed under Provincial and Territorial News

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Photo by Dustin Cook

SETTING IT UP – The Vanier Crusaders hosted the F.H. Collins Warriors Friday in Super Volley action with both winning teams continuing their undefeated seasons. The girl’s Warriors team took the match in five sets, while the boy’s Crusaders won in three straight sets, 25-14, 25-21, 25-21.

Crusaders and Warriors split games

Two teams continued their undefeated young seasons at Super Volley Thursday and Friday hosted by Vanier Catholic Secondary School.

By Dustin Cook on October 23, 2017

Two teams continued their undefeated young seasons at Super Volley Thursday and Friday hosted by Vanier Catholic Secondary School.

The F.H. Collins Warriors girl’s team fought back from two deficits to force a fifth set that went down to the wire to improve to 3-0.

In the following game, the Vanier Crusaders boy’s team powered to a straight set victory over the Warriors to remain undefeated at 3-0.

This was the second week of the high school senior’s volleyball competition with F.H Collins hosting both Vanier and Porter Creek Secondary School Oct. 12-13.

The home team Crusaders came out strong in the girl’s game Friday after losing to the Porter Creek Rams on Thursday. They took the first set from the Warriors 25-20.

But the Warriors battled back in the second set with strong serving and blocking at the net.

“We came out kind of flat-footed a little bit, making a lot of mistakes and I thought we cleaned it up,” Warriors head coach Matthew Taylor said following the match.

The back-and-forth game would continue in the third set with the Crusaders regaining the lead in a dominant third set thanks to consistent serving and cross-court hits from Iliana Paton and defensive leadership from Isabel Magsucang.

In the fourth set, the Warriors bounced back and took a commanding 7-0 lead en route to a 25-11 win to force the deciding set.

“I was trying to reassure them that they know how to play volleyball, just to be confident,” Taylor said.

After a missed serve or lost point following an unforced error, Taylor consistently told his team to shake it off and it was fine.

“Volleyball’s a huge momentum sport and I think the player’s are too hard on themselves over one point,” he said. “So I just try to make sure that if they do make an error that they don’t dwell on it so it doesn’t affect multiple points.”

The Crusaders will put their undefeated Super Volley record on the line in two weeks at Porter Creek following the Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament Oct. 26-28.

On the boy’s side, the Crusaders powered to their third straight victory led by massive hitting up front.

They took the first set 25-14, but the Warriors fought hard in the next two sets pushing the Crusaders right to the end with the home team winning both sets 25-21.

Crusaders captain Daniel Kim said it was a great team effort.

“Our passes were good, our sets were good and our hits were like massive,” Kim said.

He wasn’t exaggerating. The tall line of players up front for the Crusaders delivered crushing spikes, some even remarkably returned by the Warriors led by their captain Austin Hayduck.

First-year coach for the Crusaders Caroline Holway said the power hitting is not something they focus on in practice and just came with the athletes.

“Today’s focus was to put the ball more in the middle, having our middle attackers attack,” she said following the game.

“I’ve been keeping stats and that’s been something that was lacking, so today Daniel did a great job of moving the ball around better and getting it to the middle.”

Both teams will be back in action in two weeks time as the Porter Creek Rams host the final regular season Super Volley matches before the playoffs.

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