Kodiaks bring home championship banner

North Kildonan

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This article was published 11/12/2024 (660 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The River East Kodiaks boys varsity volleyball team capped off a perfect season by bringing home the provincial championship banner.

“It’s so special,” head coach Zack Diboll said. “Monday night, I don’t think I fell asleep until 4 a.m. All the conversations I’ve had now since, it’s like, we can breathe now again and just enjoy it.”

On Dec. 2, the Kodiaks defeated St. Paul’s Crusaders in three straight sets (25-16, 25-23, 25-22) to capture the school’s first provincial boys varsity championship since 1982 after the team went an incredible 45-0 over the course of the season.

Setter Matthew Brown was named the most valuable player of the tournament, while twin teammates Gavin and Eli Ulrich (a libero and a left-side, respectively) were named to the tournament all-star team.

“They’re a very special group,” said Diboll, who has been coaching volleyball at River East for the past 10 years and began coaching this group three years ago, at the junior varsity level. “It’s been amazing to be with them since Grade 10. Capping it off with a win was amazing, and very memorable to me as a coach.”

In the provincial tournament, the Kodiaks beat Vincent Massey Vikings in three sets in the quarter-finals before dispatching the defending champion Vincent Massey Trojans in four sets in the semifinals, flipping the script on last season, when River East made it as far as the semis before losing to the Trojans, who themselves went undefeated all season.

“Our motto, as soon as the regular season stopped, was just going 1-0,” Diboll said. “Only looking at the game ahead of ourselves and not looking too far ahead. The guys, they bought in. They knew to stay focused on that one game. It was nice that they were very focused on each goal that we set.”

While the provincial title was undoubtedly the highlight of the season, the Kodiaks went undefeated while also taking home the St. Vital Invitational, Royals Spike-Off, and the DMCI varsity boys tournament titles locally, as well as the David Pysyk Memorial tournament in Edmonton, Alta., over the Thanksgiving long weekend.

“The boys, they were just so battle-tested through club volleyball, through last year and Grade 10 that they had a lot of big games under their belts and they know how to win, whether it’s through defence or offence,” Diboll said. “They’re just winners. At the end of the season, we leaned on our defence a lot, through blocks and digs, and were able to transition to offence. We talked a lot about emotional points, and we had quite a few of those, which gives a lot of energy, which carries over to two or three points each time.”

While most of this year’s team is set to graduate in the spring, Diboll said REC’s boys volleyball program remains well-positioned for the future.

“I think we’re in good hands for next year,” he said. “We’re obviously losing major pieces of our puzzle, but we do have two boys who started all year who will be in leadership roles all year. We will probably roster five or six Grade 12s next year. We should be very competitive.”