The F.H. Collins Warriors and the Vanier Crusaders girls teams began the third instalment of the Supervolley season off with a bang on Thursday night at Vanier Secondary School.

In an action-packed game, the Warriors and Crusaders went the distance, but it was F.H. who was able to hold off the home team in the fifth set to win their second game of the season 3-2.

The Warriors set the tone early in the first set led on offence by left-side attacker Emma Boyd. The Crusaders did well to hang around and trailed 12-8. That is when Vanier’s player of the game Christine Miral stepped to the service line.

With a deceiving float-serve, Miral was dominant from the line and helped her team retake the lead. Even when F.H. managed to take the point back the momentum was squarely on Vanier’s side.

Miral continued her strong play through the first set, and middle attacker Nicole Farkas played strong defence at the net, as the Crusaders cruised to a first set win 25-15.

Any momentum gained by the Crusaders in their dominant first set quickly evaporated in the second. The Warriors got off to a strong start, doing damage at the service line.

F.H. player of the game Sam Demchuk rattled off 10 serves to begin the second, building a 10-0 lead before Vanier won a point.

Vanier did well to fight back but the 10-0 lead proved insurmountable. Warriors left-side Paige Seeley put the set away from the service line, rattling off multiple points as F.H. took the second 25-11.

In the third set, the Warriors did not relinquish their momentum. Their service game remained strong and the rest of their game caught up. On offence and defence F.H. was getting it done with a balanced attack.

Demchuk said in the middle two sets was when the team was really gelling.

“We definitely did well with our passing and great balls up and great hits down,” said Demchuk. “We were playing really smart and getting great digs.”

The Crusaders did well in the third running their offence but the errors are what did them in as the Warriors cruised to a convincing 25-17 win.

The court still seemed tilted in the Warriors’ favour early in the fourth as they jumped out to an 8-5 lead.

The lead quickly dissipated as Vanier dug every ball. It also helped that Erica MacDonald went on a big serving run with a near un-passable float serve.

F.H. did what it could to fight back but the mistakes began to compound. Miral squashed any hopes of a Warriors comeback with a thunderous attack and Farkas, who had the block working all game, put the fourth away with a surprising quick attack from the middle.

The Crusaders won the fourth convincingly 25-15.

In the fourth, Demchuk said the Warriors lacked the communication it had in the two previous sets and that was a big setback for them.

The Warriors shook off the fourth set and took early control of the fifth set. Using their defence, F.H. built a 7-4 advantage forcing the Crusaders to burn a timeout.

It was all Warriors in the closing set as they continued to build on their lead eventually taking it 15-6.

For the Warriors, it was their second win of the Supervolley season. They had a two-week hiatus after defeating Porter Creek on the first Thursday of October and Demchuk said the team will continue to work.

“We just gotta keep going up,” said Demchuk.

The Warriors will be back in action on Halloween when they play Porter Creek, who they beat 3-0 in their first game.

Demchuk is expecting another tough game.

“Every team grows throughout the season so it will be a tough game,” said Demchuk.

Vanier will be back in action tonight against the Rams. The Crusaders came out on top 3-2 in the first meeting between the two squads.