Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by John Tonin

ATTACKING FROM THE RIGHT – Vanier Crusaders right-side attacker Josie Anderson, 22, hits around the F.H. Warriors block during the Grade 9/10 girls championship volleyball game Saturday at Porter Creek.

Image title

Photo by John Tonin

HITTING TO OPEN SPACE – Grade 9/10 Volley Championships tournament MVP Josh Wanless, 7, attacks the ball between the block set by the Porter Creek Rams during the second set of the final game.

Vanier cleans up at v-ball championships

It was a weekend full of volleyball action as both Grade 8 and Grade 9/10 teams vied for the Volleyball Championships.

By John Tonin on November 18, 2019

It was a weekend full of volleyball action as both Grade 8 and Grade 9/10 teams vied for the Volleyball Championships. The finals for both age groups were played at Porter Creek Secondary School on Saturday. When it was all said and done, the Vanier Crusaders earned their school four new banners for the rafters.

Vanier 9/10 girls handle Warriors

The Crusaders had shown throughout round-robin play that they were a strong team, that didn’t intimidate F.H. It was a hard-fought first set in the best of three match as the teams traded points from the onset.

Tied at 18 heading into the back-half of the first, both teams were showing impressive hustle, but it was the Warriors who were getting a balanced attack from all positions.

F.H. built a small lead as they used a strong tip game to find the holes in the Crusaders’ defence. The Warriors held steady the rest of the way to win the first 25-23.

In the second, Vanier made the proper adjustments on defence. The tips they were getting burned on in the first they were now picking up, while their offence ran on all cylinders.

Tournament MVP, Vanier setter Carla Dumadag, found the attackers who were placing the ball into the deep corners of the court. Swinging from the right-side was Josie Anderson who was beginning to look unstoppable.

Vanier was rolling and was up 24-10 when Jennifer Tuton’s attack from the left ended things.

The third set was much like the second, all Crusaders. They were strong in every aspect of the game, serve receive, free-balls, defence and attack. Vanier overpowered their opponent in the third cruising to a 15-4 victory.

Dumadag said she was ecstatic to win, especially because the team was able to finally get past the F.H. Warriors.

“For the past two years we have been losing to the exact same team since Grade 8,” said Dumadag. “Especially my grade (10) since we’ve been the one that’s been big competition for them the past two years it felt really nice.”

The Crusaders were the champions at the Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament earning them the double crown.

Although Dumadag said they’ve beaten F.H. before, Saturday was an entirely different game.

“We knew we had beaten them before but that didn’t mean anything because this was going to be another game,” said Dumadag. “Instead of being nervous we just thought ‘we are so excited to play. It’s another game, it’s another chance to win.’ That’s all we thought.”

Being the setter, Dumadag said the team made her life easy with good passes.

“I know they can do anything,” said Dumadag. “I just need to give them a good set and they will kill it every time.”

Crusaders cruise in two

The Vanier Crusaders stood opposite the Porter Creek Rams in the Grade 9/10 boys championship game and used a strong overall game to win the championship 2-0.

It was all Vanier in the first set. They got off to a strong service game which built them a sizeable lead. On offence, the Crusaders exploited the weaknesses in the Rams, as the attacks came from all positions on the court.

The Crusaders cruised easily to a first set 25-13 win and won the final point with an impenetrable block.

Porter Creek made the necessary adjustments in the second to make it a much closer set. Both teams had highlight-reel plays on both ends of the ball but it was the Crusaders who built a slight advantage in the race to 25.

Led by the offence of tournament MVP, Josh Wanless, the Crusaders held off a late Rams charge to win the set 25-22.

The Crusaders were able to avenge their loss to the Rams at the Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament and coach Caroline Holway said the team was able to use what they learned in practice to achieve the championship title.

“I think they played super,” said Holway. “We’ve been working on a few things since we came back from Dawson losing to the Rams - blocking and serving.

“I just want to say we have a lot of depth on this team. We had four people that were returning who showed a lot of leadership skills and that really helped the performance for the entire team.”

The work on serving and blocking showed in the Crusaders performance and Holway said, as a coach, it is nice to see the team execute those two elements of the game.

“It was really great because we encourage mistakes and they are going to happen and it propelled them to a spot where they could execute in important games,” said Holway. “They’ve learned that over the season, they’ve come along ways and learning to compete is an important thing.”

Holway said the Rams gave the Crusaders a good fight in the finals.

“They have an excellent team and excellent coaches,” said Holway. “You can’t ever go into a game against the Rams thinking that it’s going to be easy or that you won’t have to perform.”

The Crusaders will have plenty of returning players next year, as well, Holway said there will be a good group of Grade 8s moving up.

Grade 8 finals recap

For both the Grade 8 girls and boys final it didn’t matter what side of the court you were looking at, you would be seeing a team from Vanier.

The girls’ Crusaders teams showed there is plenty of talent waiting to move up. Both sides were capable passers getting the ball to the setter. On offence, they showed they were not afraid to attack the ball, even if it wasn’t placed perfectly.

While watching the boys’ game it would be tough to tell from their play that they were facing their friends and fellow classmates. Each side played aggressively, looking to attack, and when they did score they let the opponent know with loud cheers.

Due to some unfortunate weather, the teams from Dawson, Pelly Crossing and Carmacks were unable to make the championships. There was a Grade 9/10 girls team from Haines Junction playing which featured two girls from Carmacks, who happened to be in Whitehorse, and one from Mayo.

Comments (1)

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Sara Stephens on Nov 23, 2019 at 12:08 am

Is there a story how Yukon communities could not make it because of the weather? Therefore is it truly a Yukon Championship or a Whitehorse Championship? Is it fair that communities are the only ones required to travel as the championships are always in Whitehorse?

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