The F.H. Collins Warriors senior boys are a win away from being crowned this year’s Super Volley champions.
Even before a winning their final regular-season game in the Whitehorse high school senior volleyball league, the Warriors had already secured a bye into this Friday’s final.
The Warriors have gone undefeated all season in the Super Volley League and won the Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament two weeks ago.
“We have good size, lots of talent from the younger kids, and our big guys can deliver in desperate times, that really helps us out,” said Warriors captain Kyle Wallace.
The Warriors finished the regular season with straight-set wins on their home court at F.H. Collins Secondary on Thursday and Friday.
They beat the Porter Creek Rams 25-22, 25-12, 25-23 before downing the Vanier Crusaders 25-20, 25-16, 28-26.
The Crusaders were a point away from forcing a fourth set at 25-24 in the third before a missed serve erased the opportunity. The Warriors took the match on a big kill from Wallace playing right side. Wallace, who was named his team’s Player of the Game, also secured the second set with a kill.
F.H. Collins took the first set on a block from Tristan Sparks.
“It was a good game. I’m happy we were able to keep up to them the entire time,” said Crusaders middle Ethan Robinson. “There was never any point where they started pulling out a big lead. We were always able to get it back.
“Realistically, we just need to push through it. We always come up to a mental block.”
The Rams, who pushed the Warriors to five sets in their previous Super Volley match, put up a good fight in the first and third sets on Thursday.
They jumped out to an 11-3 lead to open the match before the Warriors caught up at 19-19. The Warriors reached set-point and took the set with blocks from the team’s Player of the Game, Dominic Korn.
The Warriors later took the game on a block from Sparks at match-point.
The Rams have ended the Super Volley regular season without a win. But don’t count them out. Last year the Vanier Crusaders went winless in Super Volley before winning the Yukon championships.
“We’ve come a long way since we started and we just need to get our head in the game and do what we know we can do,” said Rams captain Jack Woodwalker.
“Mistakes on our side of the court” contributed to Thursday’s loss, he added. “In the first and third (sets) we kept it under control on our side of the court, didn’t make too many mistakes. We kept our hits down and that’s what kept us in the game there.”
The Crusaders and Rams will faceoff in the Super Volley semifinal Thursday evening at Vanier Catholic Secondary. The winner will go on to play the Warriors on Friday.
Contact Tom Patrick at
tomp@yukon-news.com