If this weekend's Grade 8 Yukon Volleyball Championships were any indication, the future of volleyball in the territory is brighter than ever.

That, according to the coaches of the title-winning Porter Creek Rams girls and Vanier Crusaders boys.

"It's very exciting, because if you watched any of the games between the three schools, the girls are all really strong and they worked well together,” Rams coach Dan Bisson said Saturday. "They're not afraid to hit the ball, which is not always the case.”

In the girls final, Porter Creek beat F.H. Collins two straight by scores of 25-16 and 27-25.

"I told the girls: if you play volleyball and you play as a team, you can't lose,” Bisson said. "And they did that. One team finished first, one team finished third. They could have finished fifth and sixth, it didn't matter. I'm extremely proud of them, but I was proud before coming in.”

F.H. Collins Warriors coach David Schroeder said his group "really gelled as a team” over the course of the playoffs.

The coach said he is excited to see where the girls go from here.

"They all came a long ways,” he said. "I think some of them are really yearning for that next step. The Grade 8 level is more participation where everybody plays, so I think some of them are really ready for the more competitive level.”

In the Grade 8 boys final, the 14-member Vanier Crusaders beat the F.H. Collins Warriors ‘B' team 25-11 and 25-19 to reverse last year's championship results.

"I always knew that they could do it, because they played so well together as a team,” said Crusaders coach Paula Stoker. "They worked so hard to get here. They have so much heart that they keep trying, and they really encourage each other when things get scary.”

Vanier eked out a win over the F.H. Collins ‘A' team to prevent an all-Warriors final matchup.

"The semifinal was a real nailbiter, right down to the wire,” Stoker said.

"They came together in that one, and this was just the icing on the cake.”

Despite the championship loss, Warriors boys coach Andrew Craigen said he liked what he saw out of his team this season.

"We had a really strong group of guys,” he said. "Both teams had the potential to make it to the final.

"The biggest thing in Grade 8 is just to try and see improvement from start to finish, hoping to get the skillset and the development, because it's going to get more and more competitive as they go on,” Craigen explained. "So I'm happy with how that went. I think the Warriors volleyball program has a pretty bright future.”

The three-ball system, which sees a coach lob the ball over the net to start a rally, was used in the Grade 8 championships to encourage more rallies.