Volleyball fans did not have to wait long for more Supervolley action. On Friday, the Porter Creek Rams paid a visit to the Vanier Crusaders. For the girls and boys Vanier sides, it was their second game in as many nights. Porter Creek had not been in action since Oct. 4.

The girls were the first to take the court in front of a fair-sized crowd. The Crusaders were looking to get into the win column after losing last Thursday to the F.H. Collins Warriors in five sets.

At the final whistle, it was Crusaders who came out on top 3-0.

It was an even match in the early goings of the first set. Both teams got off to hot starts at the serving line. Angel McCallum got the Rams rolling, and when the Crusaders won the point back, Christine Miral closed the gap again with a strong float-serve.

The Crusaders were led on offence early by middle Nicole Farkas as Vanier built a small led. Porter Creek kept it close with tough serving and scrappy defence.

With the set at 24-19, Vanier attacker and player of the game, Gabby Rayo, served an ace to give the Crusaders the first set.

Vanier coach Janna Tait said the team’s focus has been on their serve.

“… Serving is what starts the rally,” said Tait. “We definitely talk about it as a team that it’s important to be a good, strong serving team. It gives ourselves a chance to play volleyball on top of that.”

Because of their tough serves, Vanier looks to get the other team out of system and to receive a lot of free-balls so they can run their offence.

“That’s the name of the game,” said Tait. “It is something we’ve talked to the girls about, worked on in practice and are intentionally doing.”

Tait said the team is still working on their consistency but as the season moves along she and fellow coach Jane Londero are seeing progression.

“I was saying I would have loved to have had a video from the early bird tournament to compare to now,” said Tait.

“Their growth has been substantial in the last month. It’s really fun to watch them improve and grow and become more consistent volleyball players.”

The Crusaders flew out of the gate in the second set building a 12-3 advantage. Porter Creek didn’t cave. Using strong defence they began to chip away at the deficit. Rams player of the game Jaida Allen went on a bountiful service run to bring the Rams within three.

Despite their comeback efforts, the Rams couldn’t get over the hump. On a broken play, Crusader attacker Erica MacDonald hit a powerful back-row spike to give Vanier a 25-18 set win.

Tait said the Rams gave the Crusaders everything they could handle and that it is good to have strong teams playing in the Yukon.

“It’s really nice to have three competitive teams at all three high schools,” said Tait. “At the end of the day they are all Yukon athletes and you want the level of play to be higher because that raises the level of everyone.”

Porter Creek led for most of the third set but the Crusaders were hanging around. The set featured nice rallies and each team won their fair share of them.

The Crusaders pushed past the Rams in the late stages of the set. Rayo hit a powerful middle attack to make it 24-23.

Rayo served out the game to give the Crusaders the win and take the match 3-0.

Vanier boys make it two in a row

In the boys’ game, the Vanier Crusaders were able to get past the Porter Creek Rams 3-1. The Crusaders added two wins to their record last week. On Thursday, they downed the F.H. Collins Warriors 3-1. Like the girls’ team, the Rams had not played since Oct. 4.

The first set was tightly contested and saw plenty of action from both teams.

Porter Creek, whose team play can best be described as consistent, played strong defence. The block of the Rams forced the powerful hitters of Vanier into plenty of mistakes, either out of bounds or into the block.

Cameron Ryles led the Rams offence with a steady diet of off-speed shots into the deep corners or off of hands.

Vanier setter Tony Kim did well in distributing the wealth amongst the attackers. Zack Beaudry, out of the middle, and Christian Miral found the gaps in the blocks to score the bulk of the points for the Crusaders.

It was the Rams, who down the stretch made fewer mistakes, who won the first set 25-23.

The Crusaders got out to a large 16-3 advantage in the second led by the serving of Beaudry. Porter Creek couldn’t find their game and the Crusaders attackers at all positions were firing on all cylinders.

The Rams did mount a small comeback off the serve of Ryles who kept Crusaders out of system, allowing Porter Creek to get some offensive momentum.

Kim ended the Rams’ comeback attempt with a cheeky setter dump

Kim ended the Rams’ comeback attempt with a cheeky setter dump and the Crusaders took the second convincingly 25-17.

Having found their footing, the Crusaders won the next two sets to take the final match 3-1.

There will be no Supervolley this week as the three high schools will be travelling to Robert Service Secondary on Thursday to compete in the annual Dawson Invitation Volleyball Tournament.