Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by John Tonin

GOING OVER – F.H. Collins Warriors left-side attacker Emma Boyd (12) hits over the Porter Creek Rams block set by Jaida Allen (18) and Angel McCallum during the Supervolley Championships Friday at Porter Creek Secondary School.

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Photo by John Tonin

FINDING OPEN SPACE – F.H. Collins Warriors attacker Austin Shaw, right, finds an opening between Vanier Crusaders blocker Rylan Stoker and the antenna during championship Supervolley action.

Warriors sweep Supervolley finals

The F.H. Collins Warriors and the Porter Creek Rams girls teams got the Supervolley championships rolling on Friday night at Porter Creek Secondary School.

By John Tonin on November 12, 2019

F.H. girls cruise past Rams

The F.H. Collins Warriors and the Porter Creek Rams girls teams got the Supervolley championships rolling on Friday night at Porter Creek Secondary School.

It was the Warriors who used their strong offensive attack to win the Supervolley championship 3-0.

The Rams looked slow off the hop having played the Vanier Crusaders the night before in the semifinals.

The Warriors offence was on fire early. F.H. player of the game, Emma Boyd, looked unstoppable in the beginning as did fellow left-side attacker Maya Cairns-Locke.

Porter Creek slowly began to find their legs to get back into the set. Player of the game Olivia Blisner picked apart the Warriors defence with either strong swings or perfectly placed tips.

From the service line, Payton Mountain kept the F.H. offence out of sync bringing the Rams back into it. It was a firefight the rest of the way. Both teams got strong attacks from all positions.

The Warriors pushed it to 23-22 and did not relinquish the lead. Boyd ended the first with a thunderous attack to give F.H. a 25-23 win.

It was close to start the second with the teams trading early points. F.H. grabbed the momentum, however, and put together a run to go up 13-9.

Porter Creek’s stingy defence kept them in it, but on offence, they could not put the Warriors in danger.

Lead by Boyd, who was also named the Supervolley MVP for the sesaon, the Warriors began to cruise. The Rams had no answer as they dropped the second set 25-15.

It was all Warriors in the third. Every one of their attackers was making contributions and on the other side of the ball, they covered the court masterfully.

The Rams showed plenty of fight and were doing good things but they just couldn’t string together a sustained run, the Warriors always had an answer.

Cairns-Locke was dynamite from the service line and she won it for F.H. with an ace.

Boyd said in the championship game, the Warriors were finally able to put everything they’ve practiced together.

“Our team has been practicing super hard and focusing on things that would help us come far in the game,” said Boyd.

“We were finally able to put it all together and take it in three sets. It’s a really good feeling.”

Serving and attacking to certain spots and defensive coverage is what Boyd said the team worked on and executed in the finals.

A huge part of volleyball is communication and Boyd said it was an area the team was lacking throughout the season.

On the day of the finals, they took steps to rectify that.

“I think a huge part of why we have been having such a struggle to get going is our team hasn’t really bonded,” said Boyd. “This morning we had a team brunch and focused on really connecting. I think it really helped a lot.”

Warriors coach Natasha Bilodeau said on offence, the team looked to minimize errors.

“We haven’t made a big change from what we’ve done all year, just try to be smarter offensively and make less mistakes,” said Bilodeau. “We were making, on average, 10-15 errors per game.”

Bilodeau agreed with Boyd, that the championship game is when the Warriors finally pieced it all together.

“Our big goal always, and this is the first time this season it really looked like what it should, was to take control of the ball on our side, where we were running the court instead of running around trying to catch up,” said Bilodeau.

The Warriors went undefeated through Supervolley play this season. They boast an impressive resume so far, having also won the Dawson Invitational Volleyball Tournament. Up next, they will set their sights on the Yukon Volleyball Championships.

Warriors down Crusaders in a five-set barn burner

The final Supervolley game between the F.H. Collins Warriors and the Vanier Crusaders did not disappoint.

It came down to a fifth set and it was the Warriors who came out on top. F.H. opened the game strong going up 2-0 before the Crusaders came roaring back to force the deciding fifth.

Warriors player of the game Alex Shultz described what it’s like going into a fifth set with so much on the line.

“It’s stressful, really stressful,” said Shultz. “But, we like the challenge.”

F.H. coach Matt Taylor said his heart rate was still up after the fifth.

“It’s super hard to win three sets in a row,” said Taylor. “As much as a lot of teams won three sets this year it’s hard to go three in a row. It being tied 2-2 it’s a brand new set and it’s just making sure they start ready to go and that’s what they did and were successful.”

The Warriors began the fifth set strong and built a three-point lead. Vanier began to find their game again and got big swings from Quinn Howard and player of the game Sam Wanless to close the gap.

F.H. rallied to make it 8-6 before the teams switched sides of the court. From there, they dominated. Shultz, out of the middle, had booming attacks to open space and on defence, he set up a brick wall at the net and racked up an incredible amount of blocks.

With such a large deficit to overcome, Vanier had no margin for error, but F.H. was unrelenting and took the fifth 15-8 and the championship 3-2.

Shultz said after the first few points the team settled down.

“We were confident after we got the first five points,” said Shultz. “We thought we could keep going on this high and ride it out. They were making mistakes and we were capitalizing on that.”

Taylor emphasized the importance of setting the tone in the fifth.

“Once they set that tone, and as long as you don’t let go of that momentum, you’re good,” said Taylor. “There is not enough points there for them to catch up.”

It was a dream start to the finals for F.H., who struggled throughout the season before picking up their first win of Supervolley in their semifinal match against Porter Creek.

Austin Shaw, the player of the game for the Warriors in the semifinals said the team would look to carry momentum into the championship. That’s what they did.

It was a firefight to begin the first set, both teams came out swinging and scoring in impressive fashion.

Vanier built a small 17-14 cushion forcing the Warriors into a timeout. F.H. came out of the break on fire and tied the first. From there, it was back-and-forth and the teams were tied at 24 apiece.

Needing to win by two, the Warriors strung together strong defensive plays to take the first 27-25.

F.H. continued to roll into the second set. Led by Shultz, who was all over the court, the Warriors built a 19-14 advantage. When the Crusaders tried to mount a run, F.H. had the answer.

It was a convincing 25-21 win for the Warriors in the second.

The game did a complete 180 in the third. The Crusaders grabbed the momentum back. They opened the frame with monstrous kills by Howard, Wanless and Rylan Stoker to build the lead.

Vanier got contributions from all their attackers and fought their way back into the game with a 25-23 third set win after Stoker hit a party-ball to end things.

For lack of a better word, the fourth set was crazy. With so much at stake, the teams came out swinging. There were no easy points won.

The Crusaders grabbed the lead and started to run away with it. Up 24-18, Stoker stuffed a Warriors attack to give Vanier the fourth set, forcing the fifth.

Shultz said the team expected the Crusaders to come out punching after being down 2-0.

“After the first two yeah,” said Shultz. “Definitely thought they were going to come out with some fire.”

Although the Warriors went winless during the regular season, they won when it mattered.

“That’s how they were last year too,” said Taylor. “We were mediocre the whole time but when we needed to be strong they came out strong and played when they needed to play, it was great.”

Warriors setter, Griffin Bisson, was named the Supervolley season MVP.

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