Next stop, volleyball provincials…

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This article was published 24/11/2017 (3104 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two teams from northeast Winnipeg were heading into the AAAA junior varsity volleyball provincial tournament this year flying KPAC championship banners.

Transcona Collegiate Institute’s girls team and Mennonite Brethren Collegiate Institute’s boys team each won their respective KPAC divisions to pave their way to the provincial championship, held Nov. 23 to 27.

TCI went into round-robin play on Nov. 23 ranked No. 2 in the province, while MBCI started the tourney ranked sixth.

TCI Titans

“At start of season we saw potential, and we saw that if the girls could work hard through season we could improve and become pretty consistent,” said Shauna Martin, TCI’s head coach.

“We had a team effort, for sure.”

After going 7-3 in divisional play on the season to finish fifth, the Titans faced Garden City, who had finished the year with an identical record for fourth place. Transcona beat Garden City in three sets on Nov. 9, moving on to face the top ranked Mennonite Brethren in the semi-final on Nov. 14.

“We had a big semi-final win against MBCI, with a fire drill halfway through,” Martin recalled. “It took a lot of mental toughness for the girls to come back in to win.”

TCI won the match in four sets to advance to the final against Selkirk, which had dispatched River East in three sets in the other semi. On Nov. 16, TCI made the trek up to Selkirk and defeated the home team in an exciting five-set battle.

“We did well in that in our last two games,” said Deluca Katt, a Grade 10 power hitter. “We have a strong offensive team, so working on defence helps a lot.”

Transcona heads into the provincial tournament with the benefit of experience. Three other KPAC teams are in the provincial tournament this year: River East, MBCI and Selkirk.

“The field is so deep,” Martin said.

“They’re going to need to be consistent, play their game, and bring their best volleyball.  Doesn’t matter who we’re playing, every game is going to be good.”

“We have been competing with all these teams in tournaments and able to keep up with them,” said middle Christine Kolbuck. “It’s a matter of keeping our ground and defending well.”

MBCI Hawks

“This team has had a lot of success together,” head coach Ian Livingston said of his Grade 10 Mennonite Brethren junior varsity boys team, many of whom have been playing club volleyball together since Grade 6.

“They won the KPAC banner last year as Grade 9s.”

“We’ve been playing together so long we understand each other, what to do on the court with each other,” said Marcus Labun, starting left-side hitter for the MBCI Hawks junior varsity boys team.

“All the guys really enjoy being on the court, we’re determined to get things done, to get where we need to go.”

Livingston said this year’s team showed commitment throughout the season.

“We’ve had a few guys who have had to learn new positions and they’ve done a pretty phenomenal job filling those gaps,” Livingston said. “They’ve risen to the challenge.”

Despite having a small roster and suffering a number of injuries, the boys put in the effort to go undefeated in nine divisional games this season. They dispatched TCI in three sets on Nov. 9 to face River East in the KPAC semi-final on Nov. 14, before moving on to beat Garden City in the final on Nov. 16.

“This season’s been a fun time,” Labun said. “Coming up to this (provincial) tournament, I think we have a pretty good chance. It’ll be a tough fight but I think we can come out on top.”

The sole northeastern representative, MBCI enters the tourney ranked sixth in the province, while fellow KPAC squads Garden City and Selkirk come in ranked seventh and eighth.

“Every team is unpredictable,” added setter Shawn King, MBCI’s team captain. “We always need to stay 100 per cent just going all out every game. We can’t be giving free balls over, can’t give them chances. We have to be prepared.”

Results from the AAAA junior varsity provincial championships, which runs Nov. 24 to 27, were not available at press time.