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Yukon volleyball team turns up heat against P.E.I.

Volleyball team logs first set wins since 2005
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Yukon’s female volleyball team gets set to play Manitoba at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg on Aug. 7. Yukon went five sets in a loss to P.E.I. on Aug. 8. (Matthew S. Duboff/2017 CSG)

Yukon’s female volleyball ball team came within one set of an upset.

The team went the distance against P.E.I. before losing in five sets at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg on Aug. 8.

“We should have won it, but that’s OK,” said Yukon head coach Melissa Laluk. “The girls did pretty good. We got caught in a bit of a jam in the last set and just couldn’t get out of it. We got stuck in a serve-receive and couldn’t find a solution.

“Otherwise, the girls were fighting back and forth with P.E.I. the whole time. We did some video prep that helped — watched a little video — so the girls felt like they knew who they were going to be playing.”

Yukon fell 21-25, 27-25, 25-17, 18-25, 15-4 to P.E.I.

It marks the first set wins for Yukon in female volleyball since the 2005 Games, getting shut down in straight sets in every match in 2009 and 2013.

Yukon beat N.W.T. in 2005, and won sets off Newfoundland and P.E.I. — then too pushing the island to five sets.

Yukon opened the tournament with a 25-6, 25-5, 25-5 loss to Manitoba on Aug. 7 and then lost 25-6, 25-11, 25-10 to B.C. after playing P.E.I.

“We played B.C. this afternoon and the scores don’t reflect it by any means, but the girls’ spirits stay high,” said Laluk. “They have been absolutely terrific in the sense that they haven’t been negative about the experience at all, they keep trying, they do what they’re supposed to do, and every game they’re learning, doing new things, improving things.

“P.E.I. gave them that taste, so the girls are hoping we’ll get another chance at them, maybe in the crossover down the road in the next couple days.”

N.W.T., which didn’t enter female volleyball teams in 2009 and 2013, is currently winless.

Yukon will play Saskatchewan and Nova Scotia today to finish play in their pool.

“Nova Scotia has three national team players and are doing pretty good, and Saskatchewan is a pretty strong team as well,” said Laluk.

“I’m feeling confident about (playing) N.W.T.”

Yukon’s male indoor volleyball hasn’t logged any set wins yet, but they too will get a shot at P.E.I. and might see N.W.T. down the road.

So far Yukon has lost in straight sets to B.C., Quebec and Nova Scotia, and will play Saskatchewan today and P.E.I. on Thursday.

N.W.T.’s male team is also winless after three.

Flatwater team secures eighth place finishes

Yukon paddlers have been struggling to stay out of the back of the pack, but last-place finishes are still good enough for top-10 results.

The flatwater canoe and kayak team went into Wednesday with seven eighth place finishes, surpassing Kieran Halliday’s ninth place finish in the 3,000-metre steeplechase, a Yukon team high, last week.

Yukon’s Maeve Mcmanus has paddled to eighth in the 500- and 1,000-metre C1 (solo canoe) female races. She also placed eighth in the 1,000-metre C2 with teammate Julianne Girourard.

Girourard took eighth in the 500-metre K1 (solo kayak) while Emily Crist did the same in the 1,000-metre K1 female race.

Crist and Savannah Cash also took eighth in the 500- and 1,000-metre K2 races.

Yukon teammate Cole Wilkie-Hobus placed ninth in the 500- and 1,000-metre K1 male races. He also teamed up with Rogan Parry for ninth in the 1,000-metre K2 male race.

Soccer team shut out in opening matches

Facing the two-time defending gold medal province is no easy way to start a tournament.

Yukon’s male soccer did just that, losing 11-0 to Quebec on Aug. 7.

The Yukon squad then managed to keep Manitoba scoreless for a half before allowing five second-half goals in a 5-0 loss to Manitoba on Aug. 8.

With the two losses Yukon is dispatched to the consolation round and will next play Thursday against the third place finishing team of the D pool. From out on this limb, it’s looking like they’ll face N.W.T.

Yukon’s female team placed 10th last week for the highest ever finish by a Yukon team, male or female, in Canada Games history.

Swim team takes 11th in relay

Yukon’s Emma Boyd, Cassidy Cairns, Hannah Kingscote and Rennes Lindsay have so far set the high water mark for the swim team in Winnipeg.

They placed 11th in the 4x50-metre freestyle female relay, beating N.W.T. by 3.8 seconds, on Aug. 7.

Lindsay, Boyd, Kassua Dreyer and Cairns took 12th (last, behind N.W.T.) in the 4x200-metre freestyle female relay earlier in the day.

Yukon’s individual results so far include: Alex Petriw 19th in the 800-metre freestyle, and Boyd 41st in the 100-metre freestyle, ahead of teammates Cairns and Brooklyn Massie, who placed 52nd and 55th respectively.

Yukon cyclist alone on the road

Whitehorse’s David Jackson, Yukon’s only cyclist at the Games, has some ground to make up.

The 20-year-old opened the road cycling competition with a 46th place finish in the male time trial, 14 seconds up from a P.E.I. cyclist in last place, on Aug. 8.

Jackson will next compete in the road race Thursday and the criterium Saturday.

Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com

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Yukon’s Rhys Farther fights for possession against a player from Quebec on Monday. (Sarah Lewis Photography/Team Yukon)
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Swimmer Hannah Kingscote swim butterfly on Tuesday. (Sarah Lewis Photography/Team Yukon)
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Kate Londero becomes the first Yukoner ever to compete in the heptathlon last week, placing 15th. (Darryl Gershman/2017 CSG)
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Yukon’s Matthias Hoenisch winds up a big kick against Manitoba on Tuesday. (Ken Sterzuk/2017 CSG)
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Maeve McManus and Julianne Girouard race the 1,000-mere C2 on Monday. (Sarah Lewis Photography/Team Yukon)
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Yukon’s Peyton Twardochleb serves the ball on Tuesday. (Sarah Lewis Photography/Team Yukon)