Jr. Wolves overcome adversity - capture WECSSAA “AA” championship

The North Star Wolves junior boys volleyball team captured the WECSSAA “AA” championship last Thursday at Erie Migration.

The North Star Wolves junior boys volleyball team are champions.

The Wolves went to Kingsville Thursday night and defeated the Erie Migration Coyotes in four sets to capture the WECSSAA “AA” championship. North Star won the first set 25-22 but dropped the second set 25-17. The Wolves then won the next two sets 25-15 and 25-17 to bring the title home to Amherstburg.

Wolves head coach Jeff Miller said the match boiled down to North Star doing the basics – serving, passing and defense - better than Erie Migration.

Being better at the basics “caused us to get more swings,” he said, and that led to them being in control for most of the match. 

Both Miller and assistant coach Mary Ewer commented how the playoff final was better than the last match of the regular season, also at Erie Migration. The Coyotes won in three straight sets in the previous match-up but the Wolves made the adjustments they needed to make after an injury to Jackson Mastronardi, one of their better players.

“We found a better way to play,” said Miller. “We’re glad (the previous match) was bad because it helped us figure out a lot of stuff.”

The Wolves also showed toughness in the playoffs, something he said is an improvement over earlier in the season. Not only did the Wolves bounce back in the finals after a bad second set, they rebounded after losing in the first two sets in the semi-final last Tuesday night at home versus Essex.

The Red Raiders won the first two sets 25-19 and 25-20 in the semi-finals, but North Star took the next two sets 25-22 and 25-21 and then the decisive fifth set 15-7.

“We didn’t play well in the first two sets,” said Miller, of the semi-final match. “Once we started playing well, we started gaining momentum and confidence.”

Miller said they have a good core of Grade 9 and 10 players that played good volleyball at points this season. They hope to continue playing good volleyball when they travel to meet Chatham John McGregor for SWOSSAA Nov. 17 at 5 p.m.

Jr. Wolves overcome adversity - capture WECSSAA “AA” championship

By Ron Giofu