We're only two months into 2005 and already it's stacking up to be a banner year on the Yukon sports scene.

While the 2007 Canada Winter Games are certainly high on the agenda now that they're less than two years away, local athletes are also proving they belong on the big stage by collecting big finishes at Outside tournaments in cross-country and alpine skiing, swimming, hockey, and now volleyball.

After impressive performances at the recent Alberta Open in Calgary, there's talk both the women's and men's 18-and-under rep teams may be the best the territory has seen since the late 1980's.

Competing against the best teams in Alberta, and a few from other Western provinces and the N.W.T. as well, both the Yukon teams grabbed top-ten finishes the women were 10th out of 31 teams while the men were fifth out of 25. This was the first time the Yukon has competed at such a high-calibre tournament, as the open is a Tier 1 competition.

'I was hoping we would finish in the top 10,' said women's coach Russ Tait, who was joined by assistant coach Dianne Tait on the trip. 'But I really had no idea. They improved so much from the start of the tournament, I really wish we would have had another tournament two weeks later. I think this team has the potential to be higher than that (10th).'

Dwayne Stoker, who coaches the men's squad along with Vicki Dawe, said he thinks the men even surprised themselves with their performance. The team, which is made up mostly of Vanier and Porter Creek athletes, had only had about five practices since December when they went to the tournament. Stoker said the main purpose of the open was just to get the guys playing together as a team and to help them get used to each other.

'When we looked at the chart, we wanted to try and get in the top eight,' said the coach. 'But to get to fifth ... I think we could have beaten the number two team, too. I know we could have beat them actually, no problem if we played the way we could. But it was a treat to be up that high (fifth).'

Stoker said there were teams there that were playing in their 120th match of the season, while the Yukon teams are at about 36.

'So we rose to the occasion, to say the least. They had fun and they believed in themselves.'

Both the men's and women's squads finished second in their pools after the round-robin, which put them on the A side for playoffs. The women played three playoff games, losing in their third to a top club from Alberta 25-23, 23-25, 15-13. The men played two playoff games, losing their second.

'They took out some big teams,' said Stoker. 'It was probably the highest calibre they've seen yet and played at. Both teams got a huge amount of respect and they shut the crowd up. We got a lot of comments from officials, coming up and saying, You know, they're a really good team.''

Stoker chalked a lot of the success up to team camaraderie on the weekend. Most of the guys are friends off-court, but play against each other during the season in Whitehorse. As time went on during the tournament, the coach said he really saw them come together on the court as well, and every single person stepped up when it counted.

'Normally, people would think Mitchell Anderson is the person who stood out, but actually everybody stepped up, in all positions,' said Stoker. 'We had players from Grades 10 to 12 out there.'

Stoker said he was impressed with Jared Kwok, who doesn't have as much game experience as everyone else since he's a second-year player, but seemed to gain tons of confidence. Tait said from what he saw of the men's games, captain Jeremy Dawn did 'just an awesome job of setting.'

As for the women, Tait said they just seemed to find a mix that clicked and everything felt right, bringing their level of play up a notch. He was especially impressed with his six 'core' players up front Roslyn Tait, Amy Ball, Jessica Rowat, captain Janna Tait, Naomi Gladish and Jessica El.

'We just came together as a team,' said Janna. 'We all stayed together (at a farm belonging to a relative of the Taits), so we were together all the time and we got used to each other off the court. Then when you're on the court, you still have that same feeling.'

Janna said she also felt the team did so well because they played smart. She said while the majority of their opponents seemed to be built for volleyball size-wize, the Yukon certainly had no height advantage.

'But we could still compete with them because we played smart.'

Russ said his team had really exceptional defence against the bigger and stronger teams. He said he even had a coach from Grande Prairie approach him and compliment him on the defence the team had put together.'

Rowat said when the women first arrived in Calgary, they were watching some of their opponents practice and became somewhat intimidated by their skill. But, she said, they ended up beating some of the teams they thought were so amazing because they just went out and played their game like they knew they could.

'Their mental strength was so tough,' added Russ, adding that what he enjoyed most about the tournament was that every match was so close the women never lost by more than three points.

One of the differences Stoker noticed between the teams on the men's side involved the number of coaches and statisticians for each team. He said some teams had two or three coaches and a couple of stats guys calling every move and every shot for their players.

'To me, it was almost like the players were robots. When we put a little snitch in their program, they couldn't handle it. For the most part, I let our players play the game, rather than making them do what they're told all the time, and that made a difference.'

While the tournament was such a success for the Yukon teams, it also showed both coaches a few things they need to work on in practice. Stoker said the men's team is still switching people around in positions, which is something they need to get more organized before the next tournament in May the Pepsi Cup in Calgary.

'We have to figure out how each other will play, so you know how to set each other up,' agreed Dawn.

Stoker would also like to work on serving a bit more, since almost every team at the Alberta Open was using jump serves. Russ is also hoping the women can improve on their serving.

'In the matches we won, we had one or no serving errors,' he explained. 'In the matches we lost, we had three serving errors.

'When it's that competitive, you look for any edge you can get.'

When asked what else he would like to see the team work on, the senior Tait joked about their height.

'It would be fun for the girls to find some growth hormones so they can put on about four inches,' he smiled. 'They have all the essential skills, it's just size and speed.'

Russ pointed to the fact Rowat does such a good job for the team, but when she's in the front row, it kills the team because the opposing players just send the ball right over her due to the fact she's shorter.

Both teams are also hoping to benefit from clinics with national volleyball team head coach Lorne Sawula, who will be in Whitehorse April 9 and 10.

The women will be practicing three times a week until March break and then will resume the same schedule again after the break. Right now, they also play a team of Whitehorse women which included former college and university players every Wednesday.

The men haven't been able to practice as often since the majority of them also play basketball, but they do have a practice at least once a week.

'When we go down to the Pepsi Cup, I think both these teams will do very well,' said Russ, adding that the top teams from the Alberta Open will be at nationals during the Pepsi tourney, so the Yukon crews may have an even better shot at more success.

The Pepsi Cup will be one of the last tournaments for the Yukon teams before Canada Games in August they have one more event in July. Russ and Stoker have already had a chance to scout some of the players they will be up against at the Games.

The Canadian Western University Championships were in Calgary at the same time as the Alberta Open, so they watched a few games. Russ expects there's easily a dozen players on those teams that the local athletes will be facing in August, since volleyball at the Games is 19-and-under.

Here are the rosters which represented the Yukon at the Alberta Open:

Men

Jeremy Dawn

Landon Kulych

Mitch Anderson

Ben Chief

Denis Boyd

Torey Wiebe

Jarett Quock

Kaleb Dawe

David Pedersen

Taylor Pasloski

Women

Roslyn Tait

Amy Ball

Ioana Polexe

Jessica Rowat

Krystal Reaume

Louella Hartling-Sippel

Kathryn Morrison

Janna Tait

Naomi Gladish

Kasia Leary

Jessica El

Nikki Belanger