Cyclones And Spirits Shoot It Out
By Robert Thomas
It was a proverbial barn burner of a matchup on Thursday evening as the two undefeated teams in senior girls high school volleyball faced each other
Playing in front of a capacity crowd at Vanier Collegiate the Vanier Spirits and Central Cyclones but on a crowd pleasing show.
At the end of the evening the home team Spirits defeated the visiting Cyclones 3 - 1 to win the match.
Vanier serves - MJ Independent photo
The Spirits and the Cyclones battled out a set which was hard fought right to the wire with Vanier defeating Central 26 - 24.
The second set saw the Spirits take advantage of Cyclones errors and expertly setting the ball into the back corners on numerous occasions to win 25 - 11.
Central player bumps a Vanier spike - MJ Independent photo
The third set was a hard fought and drawn out affair which saw the Spirits catch up to only lose a lengthy battle 27 - 29 to the Cyclones.
The fourth set saw Vanier come out strong and in a scoring spurt win the fourth and deciding match 25 - 19.
Many of the points won by either side were on hard fought and lengthy rallies.
Central player successfully bumps a serve - MJ Independent photo
Despite the loss Central Cyclones head coach Joe Gunnis was happy with the team’s play in likely the toughest fought match in Moose Jaw senior girls city league play so far this season.
“There was some great volleyball matches tonight,” Gunnis said, adding “hats off to Vanier they’ve got a very good team. They’re coached very well. A great team and they’re going to battle very well with any team in the league here.”
Cyclones Adison Simpson watches as Vanier fails to block her spike - Mj Independent photo
“I was really happy to come in here and see us go toe to toe.”
Central has been on a tear so far this season having defeated the Peacock Toilers earlier this week. It is the first time the Cyclones has defeated the Toilers in years.
“It’s been quite a while since we beat Peacock in a league match but the girls worked very hard. You know the girls are putting the effort in.”
A Cyclone sets up the play - MJ independent photo
Putting in the extra hard work at practice is paying off Gunnis said adding “now it’s turning into games and more game experience.“
Despite the tough loss the Cyclones are only becoming better with each volley they play.
“More game experience in general means we are going to improve. So I’m really proud of their effort here tonight,” he said.
A Cyclone celebrated another hard fought point for the team - MJ independent photo
The Cyclones are not a team heavily weighted with seniors - there are four grade 12s playing for Central this season.
The Spirits on the other hand have seven experienced grade 12s on their 12 player roster.
“We’ve got some grade 11s, grades 10s and a grade 9” in addition to the four seniors on the team.
“We’ve got a good mix of ages here on the team,” Gunnis said.
Vanier Spirits head coach Ally Bell celebrates a point her team made in a rally - MJ Independent photo
Asked about the performance of such a long mix of grades on the team Gunnis said he was “really impressed” with the Cyclones performance.
“I’m really happy to see the team work and continue to start to see the game get a little bit better each and every time we’re out there,” he said.
The continual improvement and betterment of play was something that showed in Thursday evening’s match against Vanier.
CYCLONES ADISON SIMPSON digs gor a vall - mj independent photo
“We were in a good position tonight to hit some well placed balls from Vanier so that was really good,” Gunnis said.
Asked about the extra effort displayed by the Cyclones he said the team put everything into it.
“They really put it out there tonight. My hat is off to them. That’s all we ask as coaches is come out and put out the best effort you can. They certainly did that tonight.”
The Cyclones return a serve - mj independent photo
Cyclones Season Goals
Along with the hard work at practice and on the court the Cyclones have set goals that sees them not only playing well in the city league but also get back to provincials.
“Yes we’ve always set goals. We want to challenge for a city title and we definitely want to get back to provincials because we have been there the last two years. So we want to have the opportunity to get back there,” Gunnis said.
The ball is just tipped over the heads of two Vanier defenders at the net - MJ Independent photo
“I think as we continue to progress hear that we have a good opportunity to achieve both goals.”
Although the team is focused on this year the breadth of years in the team nodes well for the Cyclones in future years.
“I’m excited to see what the future will bring too because we have some good athletes that sit on the senior team, our junior program has got some great athletes in it. So it will be interesting to see as we go out into the next few years,” Gunnis said.
A ball is tracked down and bumped backwards into play - mj independent photo
Despite a bright future Gunnis said the “focus is on this year. And this great team that we have here. Again I’m really proud of them tonight.”
Asked if it looked like Vanier was the “team to bump off” because of their experience and strength he said it was one thing to consider.
The Central Cyclones get some pointers during a time out - Mj independent photo
“Vanier has got a great team this year. They’ve got a lot of grade 12s. They’ve got a lot of experience.”
“They’ve got a lot of players who have played a lot of volleyball too and that makes a difference in seeing the court and the plays,” he said.
Vanier sets up to pass the ball between teammates - mj independent photo
Gunnis said he would like to mention the near capacity crowd that showed up for the barn burner of a match.
“I appreciate it the gym was full with parents and siblings and students watching and hopefully we treated them to a great volleyball match. I just appreciate everybody coming to watch volleyball and we don’t say that enough to all of the fans,”
Vanier Spirits celebrate winning a set and the match - MJ independent photo
Elsewhere In High School Volleyball
Senior Boys
The Central Cyclones senior boys team defeated the Vanier Vikings in three straight sets.
The set scores were 25 - 13, 25 - 23 and 25 - 14 on the Cyclones favour.
In the other senior boys city league play Assiniboia won their match against Avonlea 3 - 0 in sets.
No other scores from other matches played elsewhere were available at publication time.
