YSAA Volleyball Championships
2016 YSAA VOLLEYBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
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GOLD
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SILVER |
BRONZE
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| Grade 7 Girls’ |
Hidden Valley Elementary School |
Holy Family Elementary School |
Christ the King Elementary School |
| Grade 7 Boys |
Hidden Valley Elementary School |
Whitehorse Elementary School |
Christ the King Elementary School |
| Grade 8 Girls’ |
Vanier Catholic Secondary School |
Porter Creek Secondary School |
Teslin Comminity School |
| Grade 8 Boys’ |
Porter Creek Secondary School |
Vanier Catholic Secondary School |
Porter Creek Secondary School |
| Grade 9-10 Girls’ |
Porter Creek Secondary School |
Vanier Catholic Secondary School |
F H Collins Secondary School |
| Grade 9-10 Boys’ |
Vanier Catholic Secondary School |
F H Collins Secondary School |
Porter Creek Secondary School |
| Grade 11-12 Girls’ |
F H Collins Secondary School |
Porter Creek Secondary School |
Vanier Catholic Secondary School |
| Grade 11-12 Boys’ |
F H Collins Secondary School |
Porter Creek Secondary School |
Robert Service Secondary School |
F.H. Warriors pull off doubleheader wins
AT THE NET – The Vanier Crusaders take on the F.H. Warriors in the Grade 9/10 YSAA Yukon Volleyball Championships final. The Vanier Crusaders won in two sets. Photo by Marissa Tiel
By Marissa Tiel on November 28, 2016
Three weeks ago, following the F.H. Warriors’ Supervolley final loss to the Porter Creek Rams, coach Mike Kelly was at a loss of how to get his athletes to play like a team. Whatever transpired in those few short weeks worked as the Warriors downed the Rams to win the Yukon Championships 3-2. “I think it was a good game overall,” said Warriors Grade 12 player Anshil Kumar. “We played our best and we won.”
Following their Supervolley loss to the Rams, coach Kelly had a lengthy locker-room talk with the team. “After the Supervolley game, he was kind of like, ‘OK, we kind of need to work more as a team,’” said Kumar. They approached their practices with a renewed energy and started working together. “We just figured out how to play together as a team in the last three or four weeks,” said Kelly. “We had some really good practices. We learned how to compete and how to be there for every point of the match.” They also switched up the line-up. “We saw how that clicked and some of our teammates are good in some ways and bad in others, so we tried to work together,” said Kumar.
For Kelly, who is coaching this senior Warriors team for the first time, it was a game of trust. “They had their own method, where they had been playing for years together and they had certain people in certain places and so we tried that at the beginning and it was pretty good,” said Kelly. “But in my head and in my heart I wanted to try something different. I went with more of my gut instinct, my coach’s instinct and once I gained their trust, they sort of believed in the changes and it was really effective.
“We had our passers passing more and our hitters hitting more with just a couple subtle changes. And also our match-ups, especially against Porter Creek, were better with those changes.”
In front of a packed crowd at Porter Creek Secondary School late Saturday, the Warriors and the Rams faced each other in their final rematch of the season. The Rams – favourites heading into the game, they had won both the Dawson City tournament and the Supervolley final – won the first set 25-23. But the Warriors came back to win win the middle two sets 25-23, 25-23. With their triple crown on the line, the Rams battled back to take the fourth set 25-19. The Warriors settled in and started the tiebreaker set with a massive kill from Kumar. They kept up the intensity.
Kelly said that a long game, would actually suit his team. “At the beginning of the season we wanted to say go big or go home, but we tried to play that kind of style, but what we needed to be is like more of a grinding team,” he said. “By playing even pressure throughout the game, it’s kind of like water pushing on a bridge and you make a crack and eventually the water breaks through and the floodgates open and that’s sort of our philosophy, to keep pressure on the whole time until the other team is crumbled a little bit.”
With a deep, steadying breath, the Warriors’ Jordan Runions served and with a little help from his team, found the hole in the Rams defense to earn the Warriors’ third-straight Yukon Championships win. “It feels nice taking away the triple crown,” said Kumar. “I think that PC played pretty well so it was nice to battle them back and take away something they were really trying hard for.” The end of the season is bittersweet for Kelly, who enjoyed the Rams- Warriors rivalry. “Coming second-best in the previous two tournaments was hard but it all gets washed away when you win the Yukon Championships,” said Kelly. “It’s really nice to end the season on a win.”
The Grade 11/12 Warriors’ female team also won their final match-up against the Rams, earning their Championship banner in three sets 28-26, 25-22 and 25-18. “It feels really good,” said Grade 11 Warriors player Alice Frost. “I kind of didn’t realize it at first. I thought we were still playing and I was kind of out of it and then everyone came running on the court and I was like, ‘Oh my God, we won.’”
The double Warriors wins mark the first time in more than five years that F.H. Collins has been home to both the senior winning banners in the same year.
In Grade 9/10 finals action, the Porter Creek Black Rams girls team beat the Vanier Crusaders One team to win the championship.
“This team has actually won every single set that they’ve played the whole season,” said co-coach Erin Pasloski. “Pretty impressive. Pretty great.”
In the boys Grade 9/10 final, the Vanier Crusaders beat the FH Collins Warriors One team in straight sets.
Teslin Predators win historic Yukon Championships bronze
SURPRISE – Savanna Kremer realizes her team, the Teslin Predators won the tiebreaker set and made it to finals during Grade 8 girls Yukon Championships semifinals volleyball action at Porter Creek Secondary School on Nov. 19. The team would eventually lose their finals berth and play for bronze after replaying the third tie-breaker set following a protest regarding their player rotation.
A volleyball team from Teslin returned home with some well-deserved souvenirs from the Grade 8 Yukon Volleyball Championships last weekend.
By Marissa Tiel on November 23, 2016
A volleyball team from Teslin returned home with some well-deserved souvenirs from the Grade 8 Yukon Volleyball Championships last weekend.
The Predators, represented by fewer than 10 girls from the Teslin school, finished the weekend with a bronze medal, the best result logged for a group of girls from the school.
Denise Johnston, the Predators’ assistant coach said the team has come close before, but had never won a medal until now.
“It feels good,” she said of the girls’ achievements being recognized.
Ann Jirousek, principal of the Teslin School was also on the floor, filling in for coach Robin Smarch who couldn’t make the tournament.
“There’s only 57 students we have in the school so to field a team to be able to come to the tournament is quite a thing,” she said. “They’re a good group of girls, strong athletes and I think they’ll be quite successful in the future.”
The day wasn’t without stress. After winning the semifinal against the Porter Creek Rams in a tie-breaker third set, the Predators found out they would need to replay the set after a protest was lodged regarding their player rotation.
“It’s a little tough when you walk in and have to switch your frame of mind before you’re playing,” said Jirousek.
The Predators lost the extra set to the Rams and would play the FH Warriors for bronze.
They were able to remain focused and won the bronze-medal match in three sets.
“It shows their mental toughness,” said Jirousek.
“We’re very happy that they are coming home with a medal.”
She said the school will have an assembly to recognize the girls’ achievements as well.
The Grade 8 girls Yukon volleyball champions are the Vanier Crusaders. The Porter Creek Rams were runners-up.
On the boys side, gold went to the Porter Creek Black Rams, the Vanier Crusaders won silver and the Porter Creek Red Rams won bronze.
In Grade 7 girls action, Hidden Valley won gold, Holy Family won silver and Christ the King won bronze.
Hidden Valley also won the boys’ Grade 7 championship banner, Whitehorse Elementary School won silver and Christ the King took bronze.
